Miss Misty's Daycamp
by IceCreamAndPizza
Summary: In order to bring more money into the gym, with the help of Brock, Misty decides to start offering daycamps for little kids. There is one kid, though, that keeps giving her trouble. Wonder why?
1. Chapter 1

"All right everyone," I shouted, my voice trying to arch over the sound of little kids chattering. I was trying to sound really sweet, but it was hard when they didn't listen. "It's time to settle down."

"Miss Misty," one boy in thee front row asked. He was four-years old, and he had sandy, blonde hair and big brown eyes, "when do we get to play with the Pokemon?"

"Soon, Shane," I answered him. This had been at least the tenth time he had asked me this since he had gotten here.

I rubbed my forehead with my fingers, the stress of the children getting to me. Why oh why had I decided to run a day camp? Oh, that's right. The gym needed some extra money, and I figured I could open a day camp where I could teach the kids to swim and they could play with the Pokemon. The only problem was that I didn't expect it to be so popular.

"Everyone listen to Misty if you want to see the Pokemon," I heard Brock yell over the kids. Thank God he had agreed to help me. I think I would have murdered these children if he hadn't been here.

Of course, when Brock spoke, they quieted down instantly, and were attentive as could be.

"Thanks," I whispered off to the side to Brock. Turning back toward the kids, I clapped my hands before I started talking to them. "All right everyone. Now those who can swim are going to go with Brock, while those who are learning are going to come with me."

All at once they stood up and started running around to whatever person they needed to be with. About five of them ran to Brock only to be sent back to me when their names weren't on the list for those who could swim. In total, there were about six kids with Brock, while I only had about four. Having all the kids I had written on my list, I headed over to the poolroom so that I could grab the proper gear.

"Shane! Stay here," I yelled at Shane, while I tired to help another kid put on his little swimming wings.

"But Miss Misty," he protested, "I want to play with the Pokemon."

I only been running this day camp for three days, but already I was ready to beat up this kid. He drove me absolutely crazy. He never listened to anything I told him to do, he always was distracted by when he would get to see Pokemon, and he never stopped talking about how he was going to be a trainer like his dad. If he was this irritating, I could only imagine what his dad must be like.

"1...2…3," I started counting in my teacher voice. Sighing in defeat, he finally came back and sat down on the bench, waiting for his turn. "Thank you, Shane."

After I had successfully put on swimming wings for each kid, I grabbed some kick boards and led them out into the pool. While I went to get some Pokemon from across the room, I told the kids to wait on the side of the pool and for nobody to get in yet. Of course, this went in one ear and out the other for Shane. The minute I turned my back, he spotted Dewgong at the other end of the pool.

"Pokemon!" I heard him scream. The next thing I heard was the sound of his little feet hitting the floor as he ran over to investigate. "Wait for me!"

When I turned around, I almost had a heart attack when I saw him jump into the very deep end of the pool. Taking off as fast as I could, I yelled for the other kids to stay where they were. Diving into the pool, I swam to catch up with him. I knew he had his little wings on so that he would float, but Dewgong had thought he wanted to play. Because of this, it had pulled Shane down a little deeper than he could swim. Grabbing Shane, I yanked him as hard as I could away from Dewgong before racing to the surface.

When I broke through the top with him, my class that was all crowded around the side of the pool greeted me. Next to them was Brock who, when he saw me, instructed them to back away and give me some space. Handing Shane over to Brock, I pulled myself out of the pool before crawling over to him. When I reached him, he was sitting up, coughing up water as he tried to regain his breath.

"Shane, are you okay?" I asked him once he seemed to regain his breath.

"I okay," he told me.

Letting out a breath I had been holding, I gave a sigh of relief that he was okay. After that, though, I knew I had to be tough.

"Shane, do you know how dangerous what you just did was?" I asked him.  
>"I wanted to play with the Pokemon," he told me. His lip quiver<p>

"I know. But didn't I tell you wait? You didn't listen, though, and you went and did something very dangerous. You could have really gotten hurt, and your daddy would have been very sad if anything happened to you."

"I sorry," he said, his bottom lip quivering a bit. After that, little tears started falling down his cheek. "I just wanted to play with the Pokemon."

"How about you come with me. I think we need to call your father and let him know what happened. If you keep doing this, Shane, I'm going to have to tell your daddy that you can't come back."

This caused him to start crying hysterically. Picking him up in my arms, I asked Brock if he could take over while I took care of Shane. I carried him out of the poolroom and into the big kitchen where I normally served lunch to my campers. By the time we had reached the kitchen, his crying had died down, but I could still hear him sniffling a bit. Setting him down on one of the chairs, I went and got a glass of water for him.

"Shane," I called his name, setting the glass of water in front of him, "you really need to start listening. You almost got really hurt today."

"I say I sorry," he told me, giving a small hiccup.

I wouldn't lie. He was one cute kid, but he was a real pain.

"If you keep acting up, you're not going to be able to come back," I reminded him. I didn't want to have to force him to leave, but I couldn't keep watching him if he was doing dangerous things.

"No!" he shouted at me. "I want to come back. You and camp lots of fun Miss Misty. Home boring because Daddy have to work all day. He too busy to play with me."

Hearing Shane's little story kind of made me feel bad for him. If his dad was always busy with work, Shane was probably lonely at home. Plus, according to my records, there was no name listed for a mother. That meant he probably was sent elsewhere for the day. Although I lost both parents growing up, unlike me, he didn't have any siblings that I knew of to play with.

"You must be lonely at home?"

He nodded his head, giving another little hiccup. "I usually go to Grandma's. But she too old to play," he told me. "Can I stay here with you, Miss Misty? It much more fun."

"I'm sorry, Shane. You have to go back home after camp each day. You can't stay here with me." I saw that he was going to start crying again, so I quickly backtracked. "But while you're here, I promise you we will have lots of fun. So long as you listen to me."

"Okay. I promise to wisten to you, Miss Misty."

Giving him a small smile, I picked up his glass of water and dumped the rest into the sink before leading him back to the rest of the kids. When we got back, they were swimming in the shallow end, some of them on their own, while others were watching Brock demonstrate how to swim.

Helping Shane into the water, I told him to wait on the step while I got into the water. When I was facing him again, I grabbed his waist and helped him into the water. He immediately started kicking his feet, making big-and rather unnecessary-large splashes. At least he had listened to me this time. Plus, he seemed to be a pretty fast learned when he paid attention.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the week flew by at my little day camp, the last day finally arriving. Although in the beginning I couldn't wait for the week to end, now I was actually kind of sad to see them all go. They had become like my own children, coming every day and eating my food, playing my Pokemon, and learning how to swim.

Thankfully Shane didn't do anything dangerous the rest of the week, but that didn't mean I had to yell at him multiple times to listen, wait, or pay attention. Despite having promised me that he wouldn't, he still felt the impulsive need to do whatever he felt like doing no matter what I said. It was pretty obvious that he was a daredevil and that he had no fear when it came to trying new things. For example, when I was showing some of the kids how to jump off the diving board, he ran off it and did a cannonball, trying to make a huge splash. The next day, he had tried to wake my sleeping Gyarados because he wanted to play with it. It would be an understatement to say he was a bit of a troublemaker.

In addition to his trouble making skills, the other kids knew him as the one who would eat all their leftovers. While the rest of the kids would still be getting their food, Shane would be done with his first round of PB&J sandwiches. And when the kids had some untouched food left, they would collect it on one plate and give it to Shane. Boy could that kid eat.

On the last day, though, I was setting up in the pool when I heard footsteps racing across the room.

"Miss Misty! Miss Misty!" I heard Shane call my name, excitement evident in his voice. "Guess what?"

I turned around just in time for him to crash into me and grab my leg to stop himself.

"What?" I asked him.

He looked up at me, a huge grin on his face. "My daddy is picking me up today! He promise me this morning he come get me."

"That's great, Shane," I cooed. All week I had heard Shane talk about his dad the Pokemon trainer and how he was always busy working. I could tell that Shane definitely idolized his dad, but that he missed him a lot more than his dad probably knew. So, for Shane's dad to pick him up from camp, this was a big deal. "You can show him all the stuff you made."

"That's right!" he said more to himself than me. "I painted him a picture of Squirtle."

Since it was the last day of camp, I tried to make it as special as I could. There was a lot of swimming, and I tried to let out as many of my Pokemon as I could for them to play with. We had a huge picnic outside, specially made by Brock. It was amazing to me how he could make every kid at that camp happy with all his or her picky food habits. After our picnic, we played some games of tag and whatnot, followed by some last minute arts and crafts. Finally, to conclude the day, I let them throw water balloons at Brock and I. This of course, was what they loved the most. They seemed to get very strategic then, too, quickly working together to gang up on us. And, not to my surprise at all, Shane was the leader in ambushing me with an onslaught of water balloons.

When the water balloons were all gone, it was time to get cleaned up before the parents came to pick up their kids. As I helped them clean off and gather up their artwork from the week, Shane kept telling us how his dad was going to pick him up today and how he was going to give him the Squirtle picture. Around three, the parents started arriving, collecting their kids and leaving after they paid me. Some of them even signed up their kids for some of the other camps I was offering, or asked me if I could give their kids private swimming lessons. I guess my camp idea had been a pretty successful one after all, as I heard parent after parent tell me how their kid had a wonderful time. I'm glad their kids had a great time, but I was worn out.

It was around three-thirty when I noticed that all the kids had been picked up but one. I found Shane sitting on the front steps of the gym, waiting patiently for his dad to come get him.

"Shane, how about you come inside and wait?" I suggested to him.

"I'm okay. My daddy's on his way. He probably running late," he told me.

Even though this kid had been a big pain, I couldn't help but feel that over the week, he and I had developed a special kind of friendship. So when I heard him tell me that his dad was probably running a little late, my heart went out to him. If his dad were running late, I would have expected his dad to call me, or at least have someone let me know. It was thirty minutes past pick up time, and his son was waiting for him. In fact, he had been waiting all day.

Another ten minutes went by without a sign of Shane's dad Regardless, though, he waited patiently on the steps, still sure that his dad would come get him. Watching him sit there, only made me angrier. How could his dad do this do him? He better have one heck of reason for being almost an hour late.

"Misty," I heard Brock call my name, "I need to talk to you. Could you come here a minute."

"Sure," I nodded. "Shane, I'll be right back. Please stay here."

I didn't know if he'd listen, but I had a feeling he wouldn't be leaving that spot anytime soon. Walking back into the gym, I found Brock standing by the front door with a phone in his hand, on hand covering the receiver.

"It's someone calling for Shane," he started explaining to me. "His dad's busy and can't come get him. They told me that his grandma would come get him, though. She should be here in ten minutes."

"WHAT?" I shouted a lot louder than I had meant "to. After all that, he wasn't even going to come get his son? Shane would be heartbroken. He had been so excited, and now, probably like many times before, his dad had let him down. "No. I'll take him home. We have an address on file don't we?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No. I'm going to take him. And I'm going to demand to see this Mr. Reese and give him a piece of my mind. His kid waited forty-five minutes for him, and now he isn't going to even show up!"

"Fine," Brock sighed, knowing I couldn't be swayed.

Turning on my heel, I walked out the door to see Shane still sitting on the steps waiting for his dad to show up. I swear. When I see his father, I'm going to tell him exactly how I feel about his treatment toward his son.

"Shane," I called him. He turned around and looked at me, the smile disappearing off his face. It was if he knew. "I'm going to take you home, okay?"

"Okay, Miss Misty."

Standing up, he picked up his backpack and picture before walking over to me. Picking him up, I carried him over to my car. After I opened the door, he slid inside and buckled up. Brock came outside with the address, asking me to not get into too much trouble. Entering the address, I started the car and we headed out.

"Miss Misty," I hear from the backseat, "I don't want to go home. I want to stay with you."

Glancing at him in my rear view mirror, I saw the little pout on his face. I knew I was driving, but all I wanted to do was give him a hug. "Shane, you have to go home. Miss Misty would love for you to stay with her, but she is always busy with her gym. It wouldn't be much fun for you to stay. If your daddy says yes, though, you are more than welcome to come to some of the other camps this summer."

This must have satisfied him because he stopped talking for a while. Ten minutes later, I saw the skyline of downtown Cerulean come into view as we got closer to the city. I hadn't been here a whole lot, but when I had, it was always busy and crowded.

"You're really pretty Miss Misty," Shane complimented me. "You smart, too. My daddy's girlfriend not very smart."

"Thank you, Shane," I thanked him. "But I'm sure your daddy's girlfriend is smart."

"No she not!" he argued back. "She don't know anything about Pokemon."

"I'm sorry." I really didn't know what else to say. "It looks like we're here."

Pulling into a parking spot, I hopped out and helped him out of the car. Grabbing his hand, we walked through the sliding glass doors and into a big lobby filled with people walking by in suits and skirts and blouses. Spotting the front desk, I pulled Shane with me as we walked up.

"Excuse me," I said to the lady who was sitting there. Peering over her glasses, she took in my appearance. I was still wearing my swimsuit, while on top I had a warm up jacket. In addition to that, I had on shorts, flip-flops, and my hair was a mess. Obviously, I wasn't dressed for this place. "Is there a Mr. Reese here? I'm here to drop off his son Shane."

"I'm sorry. There's no Mr. Reese here," the lady told me.

"But I have his son," I told her. Leaning down, I picked Shane up so that he could see her. "See?"

"Hi Mrs. Rose," Shane told the lady, waving his little hands. "Is my daddy here?"

"Oh. My apologies. Let me phone his father and let him know. In the meantime, you can wait here."

"Thank you."

While the lady called Shane's father, I carried him over to a nearby bench to wait. On my way in, I hadn't really looked at what this building was. Upon closer inspection inside, however, I discovered that this was one of the Pokemon League headquarters in Cerulean.

"He's on his way down now," the lady told me. After that, she went back to her work.

"Do you think my daddy will let me hang my Squirtle picture in his office?" Shane asked me.

"I'm sure he would love to," I told him. What parent didn't want to display their kid's artwork? Plus, it was a pretty good picture of a Squirtle.


	3. Chapter 3

While I waited for Shane's dad to come get him-once again, I might add-I grabbed a magazine on the table next to me and started reading through it. In my opinion, it wasn't very interesting. All it really had were articles about different research being done on various technologies, and how it would help trainers or Pokemon. Setting it down, I picked up one that looked a bit more interesting. It was one of those dumb tabloid magazines my sisters loved to read, but the cover had caught my eye. _Elite Four-Member Lorelei Stepping Down?_ Flipping to the page the article listed, I buried my face in the magazine and started reading. Just then, my phone started ringing.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Misty? It's Brock. You got a minute? I need to tell you something important," he explained me.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Okay. Good. Misty, there's something you need to know about Shane's dad before you meet him?"

As Brock was telling me this, I saw two men walking up to us, laughing amongst themselves. Placing the phone against my cheek, I listened to see if one of them was Shane's father.

"So this is who you picked to watch your kid?" I heard a man laugh. "I told you those day camps were always run by weird people."

"Maybe next time I won't let my mother pick out the camp," another man laughed.

I could feel my anger bubbling to the surface as they continued to insult my camp and I. The only reason I was here in the first place was because someone had forgotten to pick up his son.

"Daddy!" I heard Shane yell.

"Hey Brock?" I called to see if he was still there. "Look, I'm sorry. I got to go. Shane's dad just got here."

"Misty wait!" he shouted. "His dad's-"

But I had already hung up the phone.

I watched Shane run up to one of the men and jump into his arms. Unlike everyone at the office, Shane's father was dressed in khaki shorts and a green v-neck. He had brown hair, and sunglasses covered his eyes. Picking up his son, he said goodbye to the other man before turning back to me. Pulling off his sunglasses, he put them on the top of his head, revealing his brown eyes that were identical to his son's.

"I'm sorry for making you come all the way down here to drop him off," he apologized to me. I highly doubt he meant it, though. "I really appreciate it-uh?"

If I hadn't been angry enough before, I was furious now. "Misty," I answered for him.

"Right. Thanks a lot, Misty. I owe you big time."

I didn't care who he was or what he did; I was going to give him a piece of my mind Maybe, a whole bunch since he was really ticking me off.

"May I speak to you in private?" I asked him.

"Uh, sure." Setting Shane down, he bent down a bit so he was even with his height. "I have talk to your teacher real quick. Can you wait here for a bit? Grandma should be here in about ten minutes to come pick you up."

"Okay," he replied, but I could tell he was disappointed. For as he had told me before, Grandma's wasn't that exciting.

I followed him through the lobby and over to an area that appeared as if people didn't walk through it very often. Once he stopped walking, he turned around and faced me, asking me what it was I wanted to talk about.

"You!" I shouted at him, hitting his chest with my finger. I could care less if I was invading his personal space. "Are a lousy, lousy father!"

"Look," he said, putting his hands protectively in front of his face as he backed away, "I don't know why you're calling me that, but you have no right to."

"Your son waited an hour for you to come get him! He told me all day about how his dad was going to come get him from camp and how he was going to show him all the stuff he had made. But no! His dad didn't show up because, like every day in his life, his father's too busy for him! So, once again, like always, his father let him down." At this point, his back was against the wall and we were having what felt like a staring match of who could intimidate the other first. "I don't mind watching your kid for the hours I agreed to, but it is not my job to drop your kid off each day because his dad's too lazy to come get him."

"I just got back from being out of town for three months," he told me. Three months? No wonder Shane had been so excited for his dad to pick him up. He was finally returning home after so long. "Nobody told me my son was at a day camp. And I found out this morning that I had to pick him up at three. I told him I would try to make it, but I don't have time. I have to work around the clock so that he and I can give us a nice life. He's more than welcome to continue going all summer if he wants. I'll make sure someone picks him up because I leave again next week."

"But you just got back," I reminded him. "And your son was so excited to see you. He wants to spend time with you. Doesn't that even matter to you?"

"This is the life of the Pokemon Master," he shrugged. "I'm only home for a few weeks and then I have to leave."

I think all the color drained from my face. He was the Pokemon Master? I had just insulted the Pokemon Master and called him a lousy father. I think I might have just lost my job or I was going to die of embarrassment on the spot. Nonetheless, though, I had to stick to what I felt. Shane needed me to stick up for him because nobody else had.

"Mr. Reese-"

"Reese is Shane's last name. I go by Mr. Mayer."

"Mr. Mayer," I corrected myself, "I don't care if you're the Pokemon Master! Shane needs you. He's lonely without you around. And he told me his Grandma's is boring. He was so excited today, and then you went and let him down."

"I'm sorry Misty. I understand what you are saying, but I can't always control everything," he told me. After that he was about to walk away when he turned around. "I have a proposition for you."

"Okay?"

"You're right. My mother is getting old and she can't look after Shane like she used to. After this weekend, I have to leave for another month, and I can tell that Shane really likes you. Do you think you could watch him for a month if I paid you? I'll even pay you the fee for a month's worth of day camp on top of that."

"Okay," I said without any hesitation. Despite the added burden it would put on me, Shane needed me. I could keep up with his active nature, and I had Pokemon that could preoccupy him for hours. Plus, I had a secret weapon that his Grandma probably didn't.

"Really? Thank you so much. I'll drop him off on Sunday night if that will work for you?"

"That's fine."

"Thank you so much Misty, and good luck. He's a ball of energy."


	4. Chapter 4

When I walked out into the lobby, I saw Shane standing with his Grandma who was helping him gather up some of his stuff. I could tell that she was tired and probably didn't need a kid of Shane's energy level right now. On Sunday night, though, all that would change. When Shane saw me walk by them, he slipped out of his Grandma's grasp and ran over to me.

"Miss Misty! Are you leaving?" he asked me.

"Yep. I have to go back and take care of the Pokemon. But your daddy said you could come back for the other camps."

"YAY!" he cheered, in that little kid voice of his.

"I'm excited for you to come back, too." After last week, I never thought I would be hearing myself say those words. "What's your favorite color? I need to know that for next week."

"Blue!" he told me. "Just like Squirtle, and just like Water Pokemon!"

Hmm. I could definitely see Shane and I becoming very good friends if he loved Water Pokemon.

"Okay. I have to go now. Bye bye!"

"Bye Miss Misty," he said, giving me a hug before I left.

Later that night, I found myself sitting on the couch with my laptop, flipping through some paint colors, while some samples sat on the table. Since nobody really stayed at the gym aside from me, I had never gotten around to repainting the rooms after my sisters had moved out. That meant that their rooms were still pink, purple, and yellow, all colors a four-year old boy would not like. I would put him in the guest room, but that's where Brock was currently staying while we did this whole day camp thing.

"What are you doing?" Brock asked me, coming into the kitchen with two cups of tea.

"I'm looking at paint colors. I want to redo one of my sister's rooms this weekend," I told him.

"Why?"

"I didn't tell you?" I asked, looking up from my computer. He shook his head, confused as to what I was talking about. "Turns out Shane's Dad is the Pokemon Master. He asked me to take care of Shane for a month while he's gone. So, since we're going to have a four-year old boy staying here for a month, I figured I would try to give him a room that wasn't super girly."

"You're babysitting the Pokemon Master's son?" Brock asked, his eyes getting big. "I mean I was really worried when I saw the contact info for Shane and realized who his dad was. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen. Anyways, I guess things turned out better than I thought."

"Yep," I beamed. "He's even paying me for the camps, too. This will bring a lot of money to the gym so, it's totally worth it."

"Whatever you say."

"Very funny, Brock," I laughed sarcastically. Pushing print on my computer, I stood up and went to go collect them. "I'll be right back."

The next morning I woke up bright and early so that I could go to the store and buy some paint. I had finally decided on a shade of blue called Lapras Blue. In order to make this process go much faster, while I was at the store, Brock was going to tape up the room for me. With a new set of paintbrushes and rollers, I carried my bag and paint all the way into the upstairs room. After that I changed into some old clothes and got to work. Being the kind person he was, Brock had offered to help me, but I declined, insisting I could do this by myself. Now, though, I wasn't so sure, as I hadn't even finished the trimming yet. Regardless, I pressed on knowing that once I finished the trim, it would be pretty easy from there.

_Meanwhile…(Brock POV)  
><em>

While Misty was busy painting the room, I was busy cleaning up the family room where I found she had left out the paint cards. All of them were blue or some form of an ocean green. As I looked over them, I was slightly overwhelmed at how many shades of blue there were. I honestly had no idea how she could tell the difference between the shades. Then again, that was more of a girl's thing.

Looking a row of blues with labels such as, Sky Blue, Jean Blue, Dolphin Blue, and Cerulean, I heard the front door open and close.

"Hey Brock!" Ash greeted me when he walked into the family room.

"Hey Ash," I replied.

I just shook my head once I took in his appearance. His old and faded jeans were covered in mud, while his blue t-shirt was equally dirty. And like always, his messy hair was hidden under a cap-facing backwards- that a famous yellow pokemon was standing on. Same old Ash.

Despite the fact that Misty would probably kill him if she saw him, he sat down on one of the armchairs and glanced over at the paint samples Misty had lying over the table.

"What's with all the paint colors?" Ash asked. "Is Misty redecorating?"

Now this one of those time were a perfect opportunity arose for me to play a little prank on Ash. Now don't get me wrong, I love Ash like a brother. But like brothers, there are sometimes when a good prank on the other can't be passed up.

"She didn't tell you?" I asked him. Now Ash had been gone for about three months with minimal contact, so he was already out of the loop.

"Tell me what?" he asked, continuing to flip through the samples on the table.

"She's pregnant." He immediately dropped the samples he was holding and whipped his head around to face me. If I had a camera, I would have taken a picture of his face. It was priceless with its look of being blown away by what he had heard. I think he honestly almost had a heart attack. "Congrats! It's a boy!"

"What?" He stuttered. No matter how I tried, the expression on his face caused me to start laughing hysterically. When he saw me start cracking up, he figured out that it was a joke. Scowling in anger at me, he picked up some of the samples and threw them at me. "That's not funny! I thought you were serious!"

"You thought I was serious?" I asked him. Knowing that he thought I was serious only made this that more hilarious because, as well knew, only one thing would make him think that. "Why would you think that? I mean it's not possible, right, Ashey?"

"No!" he shouted, his face turning red. "Of course not!"

"I understand Ashey. You go away for a long time and your girlfriend wants one last, special goodbye. It's completely natural."

_Back to Normal_

"Brock! Where did you put the tape?" I shouted as I walked into the family room. When I entered the room, my heart skipped a beat as happiness spread all over me. He was back! "Ash!"

"See ya," Brock waved as he stood up and left. Pikachu, following his lead, hopped off Ash's head and walked away. They always hated being around Ash and I when we were reunited.

Ignoring them like always, I rushed up to Ash, crushing him into a hug as he picked me up and twirled me around before setting me down. "I missed you," he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine.

"How was the training?" I asked him as I pulled him closer. I could care less about how his training went. I was just trying to be nice.

"Good," he replied before his lips met mine.

Just like I remembered, his lips were soft and little Pikachu sparks raced up and down my body. He still smelled like earth and Pikachu-if those were even smells- and his hair was still a tangle of knots when I tried running my fingers through it. Running my hands over his face, I felt that it was covered with traces of dirt, but I didn't really care. I knew in my head that I was probably overreacting to the emotions I was feeling, but when you hadn't seen someone you love in four months, you miss them so much more. I missed his smile, the way he got excited over food, the way it felt when he kissed me, held me, laughed with me. Heck, I even missed arguing with him. Basically, I missed everything about him.

"I think I missed that the most," he teased me when we broke apart.

"Ugh. You're such a guy," I groaned, hitting him lightly on the arm. "Now change your clothes. You're helping me paint."

By the end of the day, I had finally finished all the painting, no thanks to Ash. While I had been busy painting, he had been acting like a four year old by sticking his hands in the paint and leaving handprints all over the walls. Basically, I would paint a section and then he would go and stick his handprints all over it. By the time I finished painting, I was ready to kill him.

"So what's this all for?" he asked me. This time instead of sticking his hand on the wall, he placed it on my cheek. "Look, I left a handprint on you!"

"I'm babysitting the Pokemon Master's son for a month," I told him. "And I wanted to give him a room that wasn't girly."

"How'd you get that job?" he asked.

"I may have insulted his parenting skills," I replied, giving a sheepish grin. "And because of that, he asked me to watch his kid while he's away."

"Wow."

"He's a lot like you, you know?" I started to say. "His dad's always so busy that he never spends any time with him. So basically, it's like he's never there. Plus, he loves Pokemon and he has an appetite that could rival yours."

"Oh," he replied, his voice sounding sad.

"You okay?" I asked him. I hadn't meant for my comment to be mean, but I think it still was a sore subject for him.

"I'm fine," he assured me. "I promise."

"Well, okay. Let's go eat."


	5. Chapter 5

The next day after eating breakfast, I ran to the store to grab any last minute things. I wasn't really sure what a four-year old boy would want while he was here, but I tried to guess. Since he liked Water Pokemon, I got him an Squirtle doll and a Water Pokemon themed pillow. I didn't want to go too overboard, but I still wanted him to enjoy himself. At the end of my shopping trip, I grabbed some snacks and food that I thought he might like. Since I was running the day camp, I tried to pick some food that was a bit different so he didn't have to eat the same stuff all day. After paying for everything, I threw it into the car before running to the store to grab some food for my own Pokemon.

When I got home, I finished up putting together Shane's room before I headed to my office to make up my plans for this week's camp. Thankfully, since the Kanto league was going on, I didn't have to spend a lot of time preparing for gym battles, giving me more time to plan this camp. Once the league ended, though, I had one month off before I had to begin battling again. In the meantime, I had to take care of a bunch of crazy kids who needed to be entertained almost the entire camp. That meant I had to get pretty creative in my ideas. Boy was I tired, though.

The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to find myself asleep on the couch with a blanket and a pillow. When had that happened? Before I could figure it out, though, I heard the doorbell ring. Shane! He was here already? What time was it? Before I headed to the door, I glanced at the clock to see that it read 6:00. WHAT! I had been asleep for almost three hours. I had to make sure that I got a good night's sleep tonight or I would be in big trouble when camp started tomorrow. Checking my appearance one last time, I ran to the door, which was already opened by Ash and Brock who were now inviting the Mayers in.

"Miss Misty!" Shane yelled, running over to give me a hug. Just like I had remembered him, he was full of energy and very excited to be here. This time, though, in his hand he had a Todatile doll. "I get to stay with you!"

"Yes you do!" I said as enthusiastically as I could. Picking him up I walked over to Mr. Mayer and greeted him properly. This time, I refrained form insulting his parenting skills. "Hi, Mr. Mayer. I'm Misty."

"I remember," he laughed. "How could I forget the young woman who insulted my parenting skills?"

I could feel my face heat up a bit. I had a feeling that I wasn't ever going to be able to live that one down. To him, I would always be known as the woman who insulted his parenting skills. How I ended up watching his son after that is where I get lost.

"Right. So, before you leave, is there anything I need to know? Any food allergies, bedtimes, limitations?" I asked, trying to be responsible.

"Not that I know of. Just don't let him stay up too late. He can get kind of cranky if he doesn't get enough sleep." I guess since he really didn't see his son all that often, he really didn't know that much about him. "I'm actually kind of in a hurry, so if you don't mind, I'll give you his stuff and then I have to go."

"Okay."

I set Shane down so that he could go say goodbye to his dad one more time before he left. Mr. Mayer handed me his son's little suitcase and a backpack before he gave his son a hug, telling him to be good. At this time, I saw Ash walk away without a word as to where he was going. Since Pikachu could sense Ash's feelings better than anyone, he must have knew Ash was upset about something because he gave out a cry of concern before chasing after him.

"Well, I'm going to head out now. If you need anything, my cell phone number is on this," he explained, handing me a business card. "Bye Shane. Have lots of fun, okay?"

"Okay!" He turned around and waved goodbye to his dad before running back over to me.

"How about we put this in your room and then we get something to eat?" I asked him. He nodded excitedly before asking me questions about what his room was like. Telling him he'd had to wait, I headed off to his room, him racing behind me. He was going to be a handful.

/

"Here's your glass of milk," I offered, handing Shane a glass. "What else do you need?"

"A lullaby!" He cried, after taking a small drink of milk. "It help me sleep Miss Misty."

"Uh, Miss Misty isn't a very good singer Shane," I told him. "Are you sure you want her to sing you a song?"

"It okay, Miss Misty. You don't have to be good."

"All right," I sighed in agreement. Now my problem was finding a lullaby. Since I never really sang them-or really sang at all-I didn't really know any. As I racked my brain for some common lullaby, I remembered a song my mom used to sing to me when I was little.

_Furimuite goran kimi no tsuketa michi ga_

_Kao agete goran mirai wo tsukuru yo_

_Ganbaru koto ni tsukareta toki ni wa_

_Sora wo miagete namida wo nagasou_

_Hohonaderu kaze ga kitto iu kara_

_"Koronde mo ii sa kimi wa kimi ga suteki sa"_

_Kizutsukanu mono ni aozora wa mienai_

_Mayoi ayumu tabi inochi wa kagayaku_

_Donna egao de tsutsunde agetara_

_Kimi no kanashimi iyaseru darou _

_Kumo no sukimakara mieru taiyou_

_Terashi hajimeru yo massugu na sono hitomi_

_Mitsumete goran mukai kaze no mukou ni_

_Egaki tsuduketeru mirai ga matteru_

_Aruite yukou soko ni sora ga aru kara_

_Kizutsukanu mono ni aozora wa mienai_

_Mayoi ayumu tabi inochi wa kagayaku_

_Furimuite goran kimi no tsuketa michi ga_

_Kao agete goran mirai wo tsukuru yo_

Amazingly, when I was done singing, Shane was fast asleep. The entire room was silent, the only sound being his little snores as his chest rose and fell. Although he had just gotten here today, tomorrow was going to be the first real day with him here. I really wanted to do a good job and make sure that he had lots of fun while he was here. Maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself, but like I said, I just wanted to do a good job; because, for the next month, it was going to be like me raising a son of my own. Before I left, I turned on an Enya CD that would hopefully keep him asleep. The relaxing music had always helped me sleep, so maybe it would have the same effect on him.

"I liked your singing better," I heard a voice say from the door. I about jumped out of my skin when I had heard it. How long had he been standing there?

"You're going to wake him up," I hissed at him. He was leaning in the doorway still wearing the clothes from today. Standing up, I placed Shane's Todatile doll next to him before walking toward the door. Shooing Ash out of the way, I shut the door behind me before turning to face him. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say goodnight," he explained. "I think I'm going to head to bed."

"Already?" I asked, slightly surprised. Normally he was the last one to go to bed, wanting to stay up later. "Well, alright. Good night."

/

"All right, class. Who's ready for our first activity?" It was first day of a new week of camp with some new kids, while others were old ones from last week. About fifteen hands shot up, followed by "Me!" I just smiled, knowing that this first activity would be one they wouldn't forget. "Okay. Everyone follow me and be really quiet, okay?"

I led my class of fifteen up the steps and into one of the bedrooms. I opened the door as quietly as I could-not that it would matter-and tiptoed inside. Giving a low whistle, I called to Pikachu who was sleeping peacefully on the bed. If this was going to work, Pikachu couldn't be on the bed or things would end badly. He perked up one of his ears before cracking open an eye. When he saw me, he gave a small yawn while stretching hid body. When he was fully awake, I waved him over. He hopped off the bed and climbed on my shoulder, not really sure what was going on.

"Miss Misty," a kid named George called, tapping my leg. "Can we go now?"

"One second," I told him. I stared at the sleeping figure on the bed in his t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked so peaceful sleeping there like that. Too bad he was going to get a rude awakening. Serves him right for sleeping in. "All right class. One…two…three! Get him!"

All at once, my campers descended on the bed with their pillows. Those that could climbed onto the bed and started whacking Ash with their pillows. The ones who the preferred to stay off the bed resorted to standing next to him and hitting from below. Startled from the sudden attack, Ash woke up only to find himself surround by little kids who had one mission in mind. Scrambling out of bed, he tried to dodge an onslaught of attackers in order to make it safely to the door. By the time he got there, though, they had grouped up and caught up to him.

"Alright everyone!" I called to them. It took a few seconds for them to calm down, but they eventually stopped. "Nice work. You guys were excellent. Everyone head back downstairs."

On my command, the kids dumped their pillows and rushed out the door, eager to go back to the next activity. After they were all out of the door, Ash turned around and scowled at me. I mean I knew I would be in big trouble by doing this, but it was totally worth it.

"That was cruel," he complained, scrunching up his nose as he folded his arms. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"Sleep in," I said rather matter of factly. "I told you yesterday to be up by seven, but I guess you didn't listen. I didn't have time to wake you up, and I figured this was much more exciting."

"Exciting for who?"

"Me," I stated, giving a cheeky smile. "Now I have to go. Don't forget, you're needed at camp today. One of my activities for today is meeting a Pokemon Trainer. They're pretty excited so don't be late."

"What? I never signed up for that," he argued.

"Too bad," I replied, sticking out my tongue. "Bye now!"


	6. Chapter 6

About three hours later, I found myself in the poolroom facing my class who was sitting in the first two rows of bleachers. Next to me was a very unhappy Ash with a happy Pikachu on his shoulder, who was sitting on a small stool I had found. And after this morning's activity, I had pretty much had to drag him here kicking and screaming.

"Class, I would like you to meet a very special friend of mine. His name is Ash and he's a Pokemon Trainer. He's kindly agreed to sit here today and answer all your questions," I explained to my class. At the mention of answering their questions, Ash shot me a look of pure hatred. He would live. "Now, if you would like to ask a question, you must raise your hand and wait to be called on. If you don't, then I will have to ask our special guest to leave."

Of course, all fifteen kids raised their hand at once, making it harder for me to determine who raised theirs first. Settling on some kid named Maria in the back, I called on her first.

"Mr. Ash," she said, causing me to snicker a bit, "where do you live?"

"I live in Pallet Town," he answered.

"Well why are you in Cerulean if you live in Pallet?" she asked, despite the fact I didn't really want one kid asking all the questions.

"Well, Miss Misty here is my girlfriend, and I really missed her so I came and visited her."

With Ash's answer came sounds of admiration from the girl's, while the boys preferred to express disgust in stopping a Pokemon journey, of all things, to see a girl.

"Alright," I shouted, clapping my hands, trying to calm them down. "Who's next?"

"How old are you Mr. Ash?" one kid in the front row asked.

"I'm twenty-two."

Next, I called on a little girl in the second row.

"Mr. Ash, what Pokemon did you start out with?"

"I started with Pikachu," Ash told the girl as he absent-mindedly scratched Pikachu under the neck. "I was late to the lab so all the starters were gone. Pikachu was the only one left."

After that much of the questions the kids asked revolved around what Pokemon Ash had caught and if he liked being a trainer. They asked him about where he had been, and what was some of his favorite things. One little girl even asked him if he missed home because she was worried she would miss home when she went on her journey. There was one question, though, that stirred up a lot of conflict amongst my campers.

"Mr. Ash. What is your dream? I want to be a gym leader," a little girl stated.

"Well, I want to become the Pokemon Master. Hopefully, at the end of the year, I'll fight the elite four and then the Pokemon Master."

"No Mr. Ash!" Shane cried from the back row. All heads turned to look at Shane who was now looking like he was about to start bawling. I could see his little lip quiver as the tears started building up. "You can't take my Daddy's job!"

Now these kids were pretty smart, so they were able to quickly come to the conclusion that Shane's dad was the Pokemon Master. While some of the class-mostly boys- yelled about how Shane was being a baby and how the Pokemon Master couldn't be one forever, another group-mainly girls-started yelling at Ash about how mean it was of him to take Shane's dad's job. This was, by far, the last thing I had expected when I introduced the kids to Ash.

"Miss Misty! Tell Mr. Ash he can't be the Pokemon Master!" One little kid shouted at me. She was sitting in the front row, her eyes big as she waited for me to say something. "Tell him!"

I really didn't know what to say. This had never been in the job description for a camp leader.

"Mr. Ash said maybe," I explained to the little girl. "So we don't know for sure if it will happen. There really could be nothing to worry about."

Trying to stop the kids from arguing, I ran up the bleachers to try and comfort the source of it all. Poor Shane was now sobbing, bothered by what Ash had said earlier and the kids that were teasing him. Paging Brock to take over while I tended to Shane, I picked him up and turned around to carry him back down. When I turned around, though, I saw that Ash was no longer sitting on the stool. Following the path to the door, I caught him only a few feet from the exit.

"Ash!" I yelled over the craziness of the kids. He stopped for only a second to look at me before walking out the door. Something was terribly wrong.

By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted, as well as very worried. I hadn't seen Ash at all the rest of the day, and to make matters worse, he never showed up for dinner. As terrible as it seemed, after I put Shane to bed, all I wanted to do was sleep and not have to deal with Ash right now. I knew it probably wasn't the best idea, but I could collapse any minute.

"Miss Misty, can Pikachu sleep with me?" Shane asked me when I was tucking him in.

"Shane, I don't think so," I told him. "Pikachu likes to sleep in Ash's room. Plus, I don't know where he is."

"Can you ask Mr. Ash if Pikachu can sleep in my room tomorrow?" he bargained. I don't know what his sudden obsession with Pikachu was, though. "Pwease, Miss Misty."

"I'll see what I can do," I told him.

Turning out the lights, I walked out of his room before heading downstairs to check on a few things for tomorrow.

/

The next morning I refrained from having my class wake up Ash again, even though they asked me a million times if they could. Instead, today at camp, we had swimming lessons again where I divided the class based on their swimming skills. As usual, those who could swim went with Brock, while those who were just learning came with me. Since Shane had been with me last time, he was much better at swimming so he could go with Brock. The only problem was that, now that he was with Brock, Shane thought he was this really excellent swimmer.

"Miss Misty! Can I jump off the high dive?" he asked me before we separated.

"No," I stated. "You can't swim that well, Shane. You are more than welcome to jump off the little one if Brock is watching you, and ONLY if Brock is watching you. We don't want any repeats of last week now do we?"

"No, Miss Misty," he replied, lowering his head. After that he ran off to join Brock's group.

After our swimming lessons, it was time for the kids to have their little lesson on Pokemon. When I had created the camp, I figured I would try to put some educational portion in her so the parents would be more likely to sign their kids up. Granted, this was once a day for thirty minutes, it was still educational. Today, I was teaching the kids about Psyduck. The only problem with this was that when it was time for him to demonstrate some attacks, the kids were not at all impressed with his abilities. To top it off, when I blew up the little inner tube for him to swim in, the kids started laughing and asking me why a Water Pokemon couldn't swim. Despite my own beliefs, I think I spent most of that little class convincing the kids that he was actually a very special Pokemon.

For the last activity of the day, I decided it would probably be best to do some arts and crafts. When I had been trying to think of something they would want to do, I came up with an idea thanks to Ash. The night before the class, I had drawn a giant outline of a Squirtle-requested by Shane. For our art activity, I had the kids fill in the Squirtle with their handprints. On the outside of the Squirtle, they wrote their names the best they could. Regardless of what I may have thought, they ended up loving it, and refused to leave until Brock and I hung it up in the gym lobby. Maybe Ash should be running this camp.

/

By the end of the week, I had practically no energy left. Unfortunately, though, unlike last week, I did not get any time to rest as I had a kid living full time at my gym. A kid who, once camp was over for the week, still wanted to do a whole bunch of things. He had begged me to go swimming once everyone left so he could jump off the diving board some more. So, once everyone left and we finished cleaning up, we changed into our suits and headed for the pool. While I sat at the edge of the pool watching him dive in and get out over and over, I finally got some time to think. That's when it dawned on me that after Monday I had barely seen Ash-if not even at all. We had always seemed to just miss each other, and while I was running the camp with Brock, he seemed to just disappear. What made it even worse, was that I knew something was bothering him that I had neglected to check on the whole week. I was just so busy and exhausted that I had barely any time. And when I did have time, all I wanted to do was sleep.

"Miss Misty." My name being called, snapped me out of my little tangent, "can we go to the park tomorrow?"

"Sure," I smiled. The park would be a great place for him to get all his energy out. And if he was exhausted by dinnertime, maybe he would fall asleep earlier, and then I could spend some time with Ash. "That sound like lots of fun."

"Really? You're the best Miss Misty!" I couldn't help but smile at that.

Later that night after I put Shane to bed, I wandered into the kitchen where I found Brock.

"Hey Brock."

He turned around, somewhat surprised to hear my voice. "Oh, hey Misty. I'm making some tea. You want some?"

"Sure," I replied as I slid into one of the stools at the counter. Spinning around, he held a steaming cup of tea that he set down in front of me before grabbing one of his own. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he replied as he pulled up a stool for himself. He was now sitting across from me, a serious look on his face. "Misty, what's going on with you and Ash?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused. I didn't know anything was going on. I mean we hadn't seen each other much, but I didn't think that was super serious; at least not now. "We've just been really busy."

"Well, you two have been avoiding each other all week. Did something happen? Did you two get into a fight again?"

"No Brock," I replied, rolling my eyes in annoyance, "we did not get into a fight again. I've just been really busy with this camp and taking care of Shane. I just have no time anymore, and when I do, all I want to do is sleep."

Brock just sighed, a small smile on his lips. "Misty. You're overworking yourself. You need a break or your going to collapse from exhaustion. You need to start letting me help you more. You really don't have to do this all on your own because, trust me, you're doing more than your fair share already. Let me take some stuff, and let me help you with Shane. It'll be amazing how much less stressed you feel."

"I'm fine Brock. I'm taking Shane to the park tomorrow, and after that, he'll be tired so I'll have time to do stuff once he falls asleep."

After that, I spun around and hopped off the stool. Once again, I was tried and all I wanted to do was go to bed. As I walked up the steps, I once again found myself lost in my thoughts. That is, until I bumped into something going the opposite way.

"Hey!" I snapped. "Watch where you're going?"

"Watch where I'm going? How about you watch where you're going?" the voice argued back with as much force as myself.

"Ash?" Looking up, I came face to face with my boyfriend who had been MIA pretty much this whole week. My anger quickly vanished, turning into a smile, which went away when I saw he was not very happy to see me.

"Goodnight," he said, brushing past me.

I turned around and watched him walk down the steps without another word. "Wait!" I yelled just as he reached the bottom. Thankfully, he stopped and turned around, waiting for me to say something. "I'm sorry I haven't seen you very much this week. But, if you would like, we can do something tomorrow. I'm taking Shane to the park, so he'll want to go to bed really early tomorrow. We can watch a movie or go out to dinner or something?"

"I'm busy." What? He had just gotten back a week ago. What could he possibly be busy doing? The answer: he wasn't. He was just being his moody self.

"What's wrong with you?" I yelled at him. "You've been a real jerk all week, you know that? You never show up for dinner, I haven't seen you all week, and now when I offer to do something you're suddenly busy? What's your problem?"

"I'VE been a jerk?" he repeated, his voice getting louder. "At least I have confidence in you."

"What?" Now I was really confused. When had I ever not had confidence in him? I know I teased him every now and then, but deep down I believed in him.

"Oh, don't worry. Mr. Ash said maybe, so we don't really know if it'll happen. There's probably nothing to worry about," he said in a mocking town, his voice filled with anger.

The interview! He had heard me try to reassure the little girl that she had nothing to worry about. That's what he had been mad about this entire week. Even though I had been angry when we started talking, as I sat there on the steps, I felt horrible about what I had said. This was his dream-the thing he had spent years trying to achieve-and I basically went and said he'd never make it. No wonder he was mad.

"I'm sorry." He looked a little surprised, probably having been expecting me to start shouting back at him like I always did. "That was stupid of me to say. I just didn't know what to say at the time, and I didn't even think about what I was saying."

"It's okay," he replied. He walked back over to the steps and sat down next to me. "It just-I don't know-it sucked to think that my girlfriend had no confidence in me. You know?"

"I'm sorry," I repeated. Right now, that was the only thing I could come up with.

"It's okay," he sighed. "And if you want, I may be able to cancel my plans tomorrow. I'd love to spend some time with you."

"I'd love that, too."


	7. Chapter 7

"Higher!" Shane ordered. And just like he requested, I pushed the swing, sending it higher into the air. "Yay!"

As I pushed him on the swing, he was happy as can be, swinging his legs as the swing went back and forth. When we had arrived at the park, he had immediately ran to the swings and begged me to push him. He had told me, too, that the swings were one of his favorite things to do at the park. Ironically, they had been my favorite when I was a kid. I guess I had always liked them because of how I could swing really high and then jump off.

When Shane was ready to move on, I took him out of the swing so that he could run over to the slide. As I would learn over the next few weeks, Shane only had one speed. Something really neat about the park in Cerulean was that they had this big slide that was like a water slide, but without the water. The only catch about it, though, was that if you were five and under, you had to go down with an adult. That meant that I had to go down the slide with Shane-not that I minded. Even I would admit that it was a really neat slide. Shane was just my excuse to be able to go on it.

Unfortunately, because this was a popular slide, we had to wait in line behind a bunch of other kids and their parents. While it was rather easy for me to wait, it was almost impossible for Shane to wait for the four groups before us to go. I think I had to tell him to wait his turn at least ten times. When it was finally our turn, I sat down and placed Shane between my legs and pushed off the slide. After the first curve, he gave a shout of glee, giggling in excitement.

"Are you having fun?" I asked him as we went around the second curve. I knew the answer, but I just loved hearing him giggle in excitement.

"Yes," he shouted. Turning around he gave me a big grin before saying, "You're the best, Miss Misty. I wish I could stay with you forever."

Now with most kids, they usually said this when they just didn't want to leave the fun, but with Shane, I had a feeling that wasn't the only reason. Yes, we were having fun, but this was fun that any kid who did stuff with their parents could have. He was just happy because for once, not only had someone done things with him, but they were able to keep up as well.

After that, we went down the slide three more times before we moved on to another part of the park. Somehow, Shane had gotten a few of the kids that were there to start up a game of tag. Of course, though, their game of tag consisted of me being the one who had to chase after them. Not that I minded. I was just really tired after. So, when they finally got bored of playing tag, I sat down on one of the benches so I could rest and still keep an eye on Shane.

"Which one's yours?" a lady sitting next to me asked.

"The one in the blue shirt," I told her, pointing out Shane. "But I'm just watching him. He's not mine."

"Oh. Really? I thought you were his mother. You're very good with him," she complimented me.

"Thank you," I replied, blushing a bit.

"No problem, dear. You'll be a wonderful mother one day."

Me? A mom? I hadn't actually thought about that. I was still pretty young and the gym always kept me busy. It was only now that Shane was here that I started working around having a kid to take care of. Then again, if I ever wanted kids, this was good practice.

"Miss Misty, can we go down the slide one more time?" Shane had run over and asked me.

"Okay," I answered, leaping off the bench to follow him.

I don't know why, but I really had a tough time saying no to Shane. And it was because of this that we ended up going down the slide three more times before he finally decided he was ready to go home. He had wanted to go a fourth time, but I told him that we really needed to get home but that we could come back next weekend.

Sometime on the way home, Shane crashed in the back seat. I was really tempted to stop and take a picture of him because he looked so adorable, but I refrained. When we got home, he woke up when I was trying to take him out of his car seat.

"What'd you do to him?" Brock asked me when I walked into the gym. He must have been in the middle of making dinner because he was dressed in that dumb apron of his.

"I wore him out," I laughed. Despite him waking up when we got home, he had fallen right back to sleep when I was carrying him inside.

"I see that." He gave a small smile as he inspected the sleeping Shane in my arms. "Well, dinner is almost ready."

"Okay. Great. I'll just put him to bed and then I'll be down."

I turned around and headed up the stairs to Shane's room, happy that my plan was working perfectly. Now that he was sleeping-and probably would stay asleep-that left the whole evening open for me to spend some well deserved time with Ash. I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do, but Ash had told me this morning that it was a surprise.

Pushing open the door with my foot, I carried Shane over to his bed and set him down. I debated waking him up to put on his pajamas, but I was afraid that if I woke him up, he would stay awake. Pulling the covers over him, I gave him his Squirtle and Todadile before turning off the lights and leaving.

"Miss Misty," I heard him call my name, "come back."

Sighing, I turned around and headed back over to his bed. "What's wrong Shane?"

"Can you lay down next to me until I fall asleep?" he asked me. "My mommy always used to do that for me."

Shane very rarely mentioned his mom or what happened to her. So, when he asked me to do something his mom used to always do for him, a part of me felt the need to oblige. It was obvious he missed his mom, so, I only wanted to try to make him feel better.

"Sure," I replied.

Kicking off my shoes, I walked over to the other side of the bed before climbing up and lying next to him. Since he was already super tired, I knew it would only be a few minutes tops for him to fall back asleep. After that, I could head to my room to get ready.

XXX

I sat at the kitchen table waiting for Misty to finish getting ready. Thankfully, knowing her, it wouldn't be too long of a wait. Then again, I hadn't seen her in four months so, she could have changed a bit; but I doubted that. The only thing that ever changed about Misty was her hair. Which, by the way, was now pretty long since she had let it grow out.

"What are you and Misty doing tonight?" Brock asked me.

"I'm taking her to dinner," I answered him. I had told Misty it was a surprise, so I had to spend the whole day planning it while she was at the park with Shane. I had even taken the time to buy some flowers. "One of those fancy French places she loves."

"She'll love that," he agreed. Of course she'd love it…

Another five minutes went by of waiting without any sign of Misty. I didn't worry too much, though because I had assumed she had taken a shower after being at the park the whole day. Plus, for once, I was actually early.

I watched the minute hand on the clock tick, as the time I was waiting grew larger and larger. After fifteen more minutes, Misty still hadn't come back downstairs. Now was the time when I was a bit concerned, as Misty was never this late for anything. Brock was gone, too, as he had gone to check on Shane to make sure he was still asleep. As I was about to go check on Misty, I heard footsteps echoing in the hall as someone walked into the kitchen. My spirits fell, though, when I saw it was just Brock.

"Hey, Ash?" he said, a frown on his face. "Misty…she's, uh, she's asleep. I tried waking her up, but she's out cold."

"What?"

If I wasn't already disappointed when it hadn't been Misty walking into the kitchen, I was crushed now. She had fallen asleep, knowing that I had this whole surprise waiting for her. Disregarding what I had blurted out, I jumped off the stool and threw the roses in the nearby trashcan before pulling off my tie and throwing that on the stool.

"Ash, she didn't do it on purpose."

"I know that," I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "It's just that I've been gone for four months, and I missed her so much. And now that I'm back, a whole week's gone by and I haven't seen my girlfriend for more than five minutes. When we finally get to spend some time together-just her and I-she falls asleep."

"I'm sorry Ash." He tired to give me a sympathetic look. "You know Misty, though. She gets involved in things, and then overworks herself because she's too stubborn to ask for help."

Of course I knew that. And boy did I know it well.

"I'm going to bed."

"Alright, Ash. I'm really sorry about tonight. Maybe next week."

Next week? That was a whole seven days away. And just a guess, but it was probably going to be a repeat of the last seven days, too. To make things worse, I had yet to tell her that, the second week of July (3 weeks from today), I was leaving again for five months. I had told Brock this morning, but since I didn't see Misty all day today, I was going to tell her tonight. And each week I went without seeing her, only made it harder to leave.

XXX

As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a place I didn't recognize. After a few seconds, though, it dawned on me that I was in Shane's room. The last thing I remembered was Shane asking me to wait with him until he fell asleep. While I was waiting, I must have fallen asleep. And that meant…Ash! I sprang out of the bed and glanced at the alarm clock to find that it was 9 AM. It was already Sunday, which meant that I had missed my date with Ash. I couldn't believe it. I felt absolutely horrible about falling asleep on him like that. Looking around, I noticed that Shane wasn't in the bed anymore. Great. I really hope he didn't wake up and wander around the gym himself. Jumping out of bed, I rushed downstairs to see if maybe he was in the kitchen. When I entered it, I let out a breath, relieved to see him sitting at the kitchen counter with Brock.

"Look who's up?" Brock said while he gave Shane a plate of what looked like pancakes.

"Uh, yeah. Do you know where Ash is?"

"I think he said something about going out to train," he told me.

"Oh."

"Do you want some pancakes, Miss Misty? Brock makes the best ones ever," Shane exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. This, of course, sent his fork flying through the air and onto the floor. "Oops."

"Don't worry about it," I told him as I picked up the fork. "And I'm okay. Miss Misty has to go work on some stuff. Would you mind playing at home today?"

"I don't mind," he smiled.

"Okay. Well, I'm going to hurry up and get some work done, and then we can do something."

"Bye, Miss Misty!"

For the first half of the morning, I worked on some paperwork I needed to have completed for the gym, as well as some plans for this week's camp. It was hard to believe that it was already going to be the third week, with only four more after that. So far, my camp had been a hit with my numbers rising each week because parents liked to tell their friends about it. This meant that if things continued to run smoothly, I would finally have enough money to redo a part of the gym that I had wanted to do forever.

Around lunchtime, I decided to call it quits and see what Brock and Shane were up to. After cleaning up my work, I went out searching for them. When I found them, Brock was sitting by the pool, while Shane swam in the shallow end with Pikachu, who was in a little inner tube. And, despite the fact that Pikachu was here there was no sign of Ash anywhere. Sitting by the edge of the pool, I watched Shane, while Brock went and fixed lunch. And after lunch-minus Ash again-it was back to work.

While I was working, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I called, not bothering to even look up. After setting my pen down, though, I turned around to see Brock standing there. "Oh. Hey, Brock."

"Misty, we need to talk." Letting himself in, he went over and sat down on a nearby chair.

"If this is about me overworking myself, I'm fine." I was fine, too. Maybe, I had a lot of stuff I needed to get done, but I just wanted to make sure I got it all done in a timely manner.

"That's not what this is about," he explained. Then what was it, I felt myself wondering. "Misty, what happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" I played dumb. Maybe he didn't know about what happened and was talking about something else.

"He was dressed up and everything, you know? He even bought some roses," he told me. What was he doing? Was he trying to make me feel bad for falling asleep last night? If this was supposed to be a pep talk, then it was the worst one I'd ever heard.

"Do you think I did this on purpose?" I shot at him.

"No, of course not," he quickly answered. "I'm just saying that he was really excited about spending time with just you. I know you can't always see it, but he misses you a lot when he's gone. But since last night didn't work out, you at least owe him some of your time today."

"I know, and I miss him, too. But I can't just drop my responsibilities so I can hang out with my boyfriend."

"I understand what you're saying, and I would totally agree. But, you guys are living in the same building and you haven't seen each other for more than five minutes. It's as if you avoid each other like the plague. We all know Ash isn't going to make the first move so, you are going to have to make it if you want to save your relationship."

"Our relationship's fine," I assured him. Ash and I had moved on from the argument we had earlier, and we would get past last night's problem. And, in due time, we would finally spend some time together.

"Is it?" he asked in that tone where they knew something you didn't. "Did he tell you when he was leaving next?"

"No." He had just gotten here, so I didn't want to ask.

"Ask him," he said.

After that he got off the chair and walked out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts.


	8. Chapter 8

By Wednesday things started to appear as if maybe they were starting to look up. I had gotten all my work done for the gym, and I had next week's and half of the following week's plans completed. That meant that this weekend, I would have free time to spend.

After camp that day-we had spent most of the day making collages-I found myself sitting on the couch after putting Shane down for a nap. As I drank my tea, I started thinking a little bit about what Brock had said. I wanted to ask Ash when he was leaving next like Brock told me to, but the way he said it only made me worry. It sounded like he was implying that my time with Ash was very limited, and that before I knew it, he would be leaving again. I always hated when he left, too because this wasn't the relationship I had hoped for. When we started dating, I knew what I was getting into, with the whole him being gone for months at a time to travel and train. But that didn't mean it still hurt when he was gone. I would always see my sisters with their boyfriends, and I couldn't help but feel a little lonely because mine wasn't here. We'd only dated for a year, too, but most of that year he wasn't even around. Don't get me wrong; I do love him. It's just when he's gone, I can't help but wonder to myself if I'm wasting my time on someone who's never going to settle down.

But then I remember he'd always tell me that once he achieved his dream, he wouldn't have to travel as much, or at least for long periods of time. But as Shane's life had shown me, this wasn't the case. If Ash became what he has wanted to be his whole life, he would be gone even more than when he was training, and I would become just like Shane, waiting day end and day out for him to come back. But who would I be if I kept Ash from going after his dream for my own selfish reasons? At the same time, though, I didn't want to be like Shane because I knew how rough this was all on him. Yes, Shane was taking his dad's constant absence pretty rough, but I had stepped in to help him and make him happy, trying to fill a gap. But if I became just like Shane, would there be anyone to step in for me? There was only one person that could answer these questions for me, and I needed to visit her.

/

Just as I suspected, I found Brock busy cooking in the kitchen. It was as if that's all he ever did anymore when he wasn't helping me with the camp.

"Hey Misty!" he greeted me as he spread some peanut butter onto a piece of bread. "What's up?"

"I need to ask you a favor," I told him.

"Well that's sure a switch. What can I help you with?" I knew he would say something like this, considering all I heard from him was about how I needed to ask for help.

"Could you watch Shane for me this weekend? I need to make a little road trip." I tried to be discrete, as not to give too many details away. "I'll be home Saturday night."

"Uh, sure. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just…" I knew I could tell him the truth about where I was going, but I was afraid the one person I didn't want to know would hear. And if they heard, they would question my reasons for taking my road trip. "I need to talk to Ms. Ketchum."

"Does Ash know you're planning on going to Pallet?"

"No. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell him either."

"Okay," he agreed, although I could tell he was a bit hesitant about keeping something from Ash. In most cases, I would have agreed with him because if there was one thing Ash hated, it was people-especially those he trusted- keeping things from him.

/

Before I knew it, Friday had arrived and I was grabbing my car keys ready to head to Pallet for the day. I didn't get very far to the door, though, because Shane came running into the room with Brock at his heels.

"You can't leave Miss Misty," he cried. Running over, he grabbed my leg, refusing to let go. "Please take me with you."

I didn't think it would be hard for Shane to be separated from me, but I guess I had been proven wrong. Over the past two weeks, we had created a bond that had made him completely attached to me. I hadn't planned on taking him, but the more I thought about it, the better it might be for him. After all, it was one night, and I'm sure he would love Pallet Town with all the room to run around and a lab just down the street filled with Pokemon. Plus, I'm sure he was sick of the gym.

"Alright," I sighed, giving in maybe a bit too easily. "Let's grab you some clothes."

"Are you sure?" Brock asked as Shane raced out of the room to grab his clothes.

"It's fine. He'll probably love Pallet," I explained.

"Misty," he groaned in annoyance, "what happened to asking for help?"

"I'll be fine," I replied, waving him off. "Plus, it would have probably looked suspicious if I just left Shane here and went missing for a whole day."

"Fine," he huffed, throwing his hands into the air.

XXX

I found Brock in the family room dusting a few places. Collapsing into the nearby couch, I took a deep breath. It was finally Friday, which meant that Misty no longer had her stupid camp that took up all her time. I knew she still had Shane, but at least she would have more time than she did over the week. I hadn't seen her all day, though, since I always went and trained during her camps so, I had yet to talk to her about doing something this weekend. While I watched Brock dust off some pictures on the mantle, Pikachu slept soundly in my lap, tired from today's training.

"Ash! Whoa. I didn't even hear you come in," Brock said in what sounded like a panic. As he freaked out about me sneaking up on him, I happened to notice he was holding a picture of Misty and I. If my memory served me correctly, it had been taken shortly after we started dating.

"Can I see that?" I asked him, pointing at the picture.

"Sure." He handed me the picture before turning back around to finish his dusting, leaving me to look at the picture.

Like I had said, it was taken shortly after we had started dating. In the picture, Misty had jumped on my back, wrapping her arms around my neck to hold on, while on her head, she wore my hat that she had stolen. I couldn't help but think about how happy we looked together in the picture, and how I wished we could go back to that.

When I had come back, things seemed like they were just as we left them, her and I spending time together painting that room, while I flirted endlessly with her, just trying to get her to smile. When we finished, we had laughed for what seemed like forever about how our faces looked like Jigglypuff had drawn on them before taking a picture then washing it off. Not that it mattered because I just ended up getting more paint on her when I started making out with her. (Now it felt like ages ago since I had last kissed her. And boy did I miss that.) After that, though, was when she told me about Shane and her day camp. Telling me how I was a lot like this kid because we both had fathers who were pretty much absent in our lives. I felt bad for the kid because I knew how he felt, just like Misty had told me, but I couldn't help but get frustrated with him as the days went on. He may have had an absent father, but he sure made up for it by hogging anytime I may have had with Misty. I know I sounded like a kid, but all I wanted was a night with Misty. One where she didn't talk about her camp or Shane; one where she didn't worry the whole night; and one where we could go back to the way we felt in the picture I was holding.

"Where's Misty?" I asked Brock, breaking my gaze from the picture.

"She's not here," he responded. Well, obviously she wasn't here since I hadn't seen her. And now that I thought about it, the gym seemed unusually quiet. "She'll be back tomorrow night."

Tomorrow night? TOMORROW NIGHT? "Where is she?" After I asked this, he didn't answer nor did he turn around to look at me. It was then I instantly knew he and Misty were hiding something from me. Normally, Brock would answer my question immediately and without any hesitation. The next time I asked him, I tried to make my voice sound stronger. "Brock, where's Misty?"

"I don't know."

"So, she just left without saying where she was going?" That didn't sound right to me at all.

"Pretty much," he replied, lying through his teeth. "All she said was that she'll be back Saturday night and that she was taking Shane with her."

It was then that I felt this huge burst of anger rush through me, making me feel ways I had only seldom felt. How could she do this to me? I had waited an entire week for her to be free so we could spend some time together. I understood that last week hadn't been her fault, and she had promised me that we could spend some time together this weekend. But she had just blown me off to go who knows where. She didn't care anymore, and I was starting to think she never did. All she cared about was that kid because she felt sorry for him.

That's how it always was with Misty. She would meet someone, and if they related to her or someone she knew in any way, she would stand up for them and run to their rescue. In addition to that, because Shane was a kid, he played right into her personality trait of babying things. She'd done it with Togepi and Azumarill, and she was doing it with Shane. She had to act like their mother, tending to their every need to the point where she often neglected everyone around her, including herself. A baby Pokemon hadn't been too bad, but a human kid was appearing to be the worst.

I found myself glancing again at the picture, only making me angrier. The next thing I knew, I heard a loud crash as the picture frame smashed into pieces, startling both Pikachu and Brock. After that I bolted out of the gym, leaving Pikachu sitting on the chair. From there I ran down the path, not really knowing where I was going. All I wanted to do was run far away and never stop in hopes that I could get out of there. And as I ran and ran, it was then I decided that maybe I needed to rethink the relationship I had with Misty. That maybe, as much as it killed me inside to admit it, Misty and I weren't working out.

XXX

After arriving in Pallet Town and surprising Ms. Ketchum, I took Shane over to Professor Oak's lab so that he could spend some time there while I talked to Delia. I knew that he would be in good hands with Tracey but I had neglected to tell him how much of a handful Shane could be.

"So what's on your mind Dear?" Ms. Ketchum asked me in that sweet voice of hers as she passed me a cup of tea.

"It's Ash," I told her, causing her to laugh a bit. Whenever someone wanted to talk to her about Ash, she always assumed that he was causing trouble by being clueless or running a muck. "He just…Ms. Ketchum, how'd you do it?"

"Do what, Dear?" she asked, sitting down across from me.

"Deal with Mr. Ketchum being gone all the time. Ms. Ketchum, I love your son-I really do-but I can't help but wonder if I'm wasting my time with someone who will never stop traveling. He's gone for so long and when he comes back, he has to leave a month later. He keeps telling me that when he achieves his dream, things will change and he'll be home more. But this kid, his dad's the Pokemon Master, and all I can see is Ash being just like his dad; that things are going to only get worse. I knew what I was getting into when I started dating him, but I don't know what to do anymore."

"Oh, Misty," she sighed, giving me a sympathetic smile. I don't know why, but it was then that I felt like crying. I had always felt that I could never say anything about this for fear of what people might say to me. I didn't want to be a nag either, always complaining about Ash being gone all the time. But with Ms. Ketchum, I could always say what I would never dare say to others. "Ash, he unfortunately takes after his father in that area. When Mr. Ketchum and I were dating, he would be gone for moths at a time to train. Like you, I knew what I was getting into when I started dating him, but that didn't make it any easier. I always questioned myself if it was worth it and if this relationship would even last. "

She paused for a second, trying to figure out what she wanted to say next. Even though she was telling me the story for the first time, I knew that this story didn't have a happy ending. And that is what had me worried.

"With him gone all the time, I moved on with my life and started doing things for myself instead of waiting around for him. I thought more about our relationship and I realized that even though I loved him, I would never get the life I wanted with him. So, when he came back, I had made my decision that I was done, and I planned on telling him. A week before he came back, though, I found out I was pregnant. That's when I decided that I needed to stick out for my child. But when I told Mr. Ketchum, he got scared and left, never to be seen again."

"So I'm wasting my time," I concluded for myself.

"No. I want you to keep one thing in mind Misty. Ash is much stronger than his father. He doesn't run away from things, and knows when he needs to take control of the situation. Plus, Ash had his friends, while all Mr. Ketchum had was Pokemon. Because of this, Ash knows that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love. So, I'm telling you to just talk to Ash. He may get angry at first, but he'll come around in the end. I know he loves you Misty, so don't give up on him."

Maybe, in the back of my mind, I always knew that Ash loved me. But when I started to question it, it turned out that all I needed was someone like Ms. Ketchum to assure me that what I had always known was in fact true. And if I wanted to fix things with Ash before they spiraled out of control, the first thing I needed to do was give him that time alone he deserved. So starting tonight, when we got home, I was handing Shane over to Brock and spending time with my boyfriend.

XXX

When I returned to the gym it was empty and dark, Brock having gone to bed. Walking into the kitchen to grab a drink of water, I heard ringing coming from the counter. Glancing over, I saw that Brock's cell phone was illuminated with Misty's name glowing on the caller I.D. Misty.  
>Rushing over, I picked up the phone and flipped it open it.<p>

"Hey, Brock. I was just calling to see how everything was going at the gym. There's been a change of plans so Shane and I are going to head home tonight. I ended up being able to talk to Ms. Ketchum tonight. I'm in the car now, but can you tell Ash to call me? I really need to talk to him." She was in Pallet this entire time talking to my mother? I had been right in thinking that her and Brock were hiding something from me. And if she had neglected to tell me that she was in Pallet talking to my mom, then that meant she was talking to my mom about me. That itself only meant that there were other things she wasn't telling me. "Brock? Are you there? Ash doesn't know I'm in Pallet, does he?"

"He does now," I snapped, speaking for the first time.

"A-Ash?" Her voice was shaky in disbelief as I was probably the last person she wanted to talk to. "Why are you answering Brock's phone?"

"Well it was ringing and I saw you were calling, so I answered in case there was an emergency or something. You know? Since I had no idea where you've been all day."

"I know. And I'm sorry. But I really needed to talk to your mom about something, and I knew that if I told you, you'd get suspicious. She helped me, though, so when I get back tonight I want to talk to you. I don't care if it's three in the morning. I'm going to stay up with you and we're going to fix things. And then tomorrow night, I swear on my life that you and I will spend that time together."

"I have to go," I said, quickly hanging up the phone.

Tossing the phone on the counter, I leaned against the counter, closing my eyes while I thought. If Misty wanted to talk and fix things like she said, then there was something more going on that I didn't know about. I just had a feeling, too, that the things she wanted to fix had to do with me.


	9. Chapter 9

After talking to Ash on the phone, I turned on the radio in order to distract myself. I was really nervous about talking to him, but I knew that it had do be done. As I flipped through the stations, though, I found myself stopping when I heard a certain song. It was called _Closer To You_, and it had always been one of those songs that I held close to my heart.

The reason being that it reminded me of my favorite memory with Ash. Plus, the words had always meant something to me. When Ash and I started dating, we only had a week together before he had to set out again. And on the last day, we had spent the day taking a mini road trip. When we started, we didn't know where we wanted to go, but in the end, we ended up in Saffron. While we were driving, this song had come on the radio and we sung along like complete idiots. (We had no idea what the words were) So, when we got back we both downloaded the song, claiming that whenever we missed each other, we would listen to it.

So as I listened to the song-and sang along-I found myself remembering that trip. Glancing over at the passenger seat, my hopes fell as I saw that it was empty, causing me to miss him even more. And that's when I remembered the lyrics I had heard in the songs: _Just when you think you've had enough, and your dreams come true. I just want to be closer to you. _It was then that I knew what I had to do. But it would be one of the hardest things in my life.

/

When we got home around midnight, Shane was out cold with no chances of waking up. Carrying him to his room, I tucked him into bed, not even bothering to put him in his pajamas. Since I really didn't know where to start looking for Ash, I figured his bedroom was the best place to check first. His bedroom door was slightly ajar with a small trickle of light coming from the opening. Pushing open the door, I tiptoed inside to see if he was in there. As I looked around the room, I noticed a small lump on the bed. Walking over, I gently sat down next to him.

Small snores echoed through the room as he slept soundly. I let loose a small laugh, thinking how ironic it was that he had fallen asleep on me. Brushing the bangs away from his eyes, I glanced at him for a few seconds. After that I sat up and grabbed the spare blanket before throwing it over him, shutting off the lights and leaving. I would talk to him in the morning.

XXX

When I opened my eyes, I was a bit surprised to find myself wrapped up in a blanket. After talking to Misty, I had gone upstairs to wait for her to get home. No matter how hard I had tried, though, I was way too tired to stay up. I could only assumed that she had found me asleep, and had kindly placed this blanket on me.

Rolling over to the other side, my eyes widened in shock as I saw a wide-awake Shane, sitting on my bed, staring at me. How long had he been sitting there? And why?

"Good morning, Mr. Ash," he greeted me in that excited little kid voice of his. It was way too early for that, if you ask me.

"Morning Shane," I replied, trying to be as nice as I could. "Can I help you with something?"

"Why are you always gone, Mr. Ash?" he asked me. This was definitely not what I was expecting him to say. "Miss Misty misses you very much. Why do you always leave her?"

Had Misty set this kid up to make me feel terrible about myself? It had always been tough leaving her when I would go away, but this kid was making me sound like I didn't care.

Regardless of not wanting to answer the question, I knew that Shane would want an answer. Sighing in defeat, I tried to give the best answer I could. "I want to…I want to be a Pokemon Master." I paused, afraid I would get the same reaction he had given me in the interview. He didn't, though, so I continued on. "If I want to be that, I have to go away and prepare for when I have my big battle. I want to make sure I win, so I have to work very hard. I have to go away for a while, but I always come back."

"But Mr. Ash," he protested, "what are you going to do if you win? My daddy is always gone Mr. Ash. He's never home anymore. If-if you win, Mr. Ash, you will be just like my daddy. And then Miss Misty will be very sad, and I don't want her to be sad, Mr. Ash. I love Miss Misty. She's the best person in the whole world."

"I…" Darn this kid. Why did he have to bring up the one thing I couldn't stop thinking about? I wasn't stupid. I knew that if I eventually achieved my dream, that would only make me much busier than I already was. I would see even less of Misty, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't help our relationship.

When I was ten, this dream seemed like the coolest thing in the world. I didn't care about anything else, so I could focus on just my dream. As I got older, though, that changed. Now I had a girlfriend who I loved very much. I didn't want to loose her, so I was trying to do everything I could to keep us together. My once seemingly aspiration of being a Pokemon Master was now becoming a curse. If I won, I would be beyond thrilled, but at the same time, it would kill my relationship with Misty. I hated growing up.

"Oh, there you are!" Misty was standing at the doorway a look of relief on her face. "Breakfast is ready downstairs."

"Okay!" Shane shouted with glee. He hopped off the bed and ran over to Misty before stopping right in front of her. "What are we doing today?"

Kneeling down so she was equal with his height, Misty smiled sweetly before talking. "You are going to the park with Brock. Miss Misty has some things she needs to do today. Boring adult things you wouldn't like."

Satisfied with her answer, he ran out of the room, leaving just Misty and I.

XXX

"Hey," I greeted him, my sounding as caring as I could make it. Inside, though, I was shaking with nerves. The huge gap of not seeing each other made this feel like I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen in years. I knew what I wanted to say, but at the same time, I didn't know where to begin. This was my chance to fix things between him and I. And if I blew it, we'd be back to square one. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

Shutting the door behind me, I cautiously walked over to him before sitting on the bed beside him. Falling back, I let my head hit his stomach before closing my eyes. I knew that just like Ms. Ketchum had said, I had to be honest. He might get mad, but it was the only thing I could do.

"I can't do this anymore," I finally said.

"Do what?" I knew he was probably staring right at me, but I didn't dare open my eyes.

"All I do is wait. I wait and wait for you to come back, only for you to leave shortly after. Every time I do stuff with my sisters, they bring their boyfriends. But I have nobody to bring because mine's gone. We've dated a year, but nine of those months you've been gone. You're always gone, Ash."

"I'm sorry," he replied, his voice cracking a bit. I hadn't meant to make him feel bad. I just wanted to be honest with him. "I'm so sorry."

"But I have no right to stop you. This is your dream, your life. So that's why I've decided that you and I should wait. Us dating right now isn't working. I know you're leaving again in two weeks, and that you probably won't be back until December. I also know that if you didn't have to come visit me, you could get more training done. So, I'm going to let you go. And if you want, when you finally achieve your dream, we can try again. I'll keep waiting like I always have, and no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you."

"Misty, what are you saying?" he asked, his voice sounding panicky.

"I'm saying that, for now, you and I should stop dating so you can focus on achieving that dream of yours. And when you do, or you figure out what you want to do, we can try again."

This time I opened my eyes to see him staring at me. He had a look of both shock and pain in his eyes as he tired to wrap his head around what I was saying. I knew what I was doing, though, and I knew this was the best option. Without me in the way, he could go and achieve his dream. When he finally did, I'd be here waiting if he wanted to try again. I wasn't giving up on us. I was trying to save our relationship.

"I don't understand," he told me.

"It's for the best. You're more than welcome to stay the rest of the time, or you can leave as soon as you want. And please know that if you ever need anything, I will always be here to help you out. I still love you, Ash. I just want what's going to be easiest for you. And having to come back to see me all the time wasn't working."

/

For the rest of the day, I tried to avoid Ash in hopes that it would make things easier on me. It was as if things were the way they had been when he first arrived with the two of us missing each other all day. He didn't show up for lunch or dinner either, instead waiting until I had left. When I went to bed, I couldn't help but feel terrible about what was happing. It was not ideal in anyway whatsoever, but I knew deep down that it was what would help.

It wasn't until Monday that I realized that he must have left since I had been so busy. In order to distract myself, I put all my energy into the day camps and preparing for them. With a new one this week, I had to make sure I was able to come up with some fun things to do. Today, we were having relay races with the Pokemon. Each team would get one of my Pokemon to help them complete the races. The other parts of the race they had to complete on their own, working as a team to win cookies. On the red team, they had my Starmie, while the blue team had my Corsola. The first leg of the race they had to fill a bucket of water using plastic cups. Next, they had to carry an egg on a spoon, followed by a small running race. To finish it off, they used my Pokemon to help them knock down a target. (This was meant to help them practice basic battling skills).

"So, what's Ash been up to? I haven't seen him since Sunday," Brock asked me.

"I don't know," I lied. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. "I think he wanted to go visit home. You know? Before he leaves again?"

"Don't you usually go with him, though?" Darn it. I had forgotten he knew that. Ash and I would always go to Pallet together before he left.

"Right, but I have this camp, so I couldn't go this time. And since I was there over the weekend, he decided to go." Yeah. That sounded like a pretty decent lie.

"Okay…" He didn't sound like he believed me at all, though. "When's he get back?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. In a way that wasn't a lie because I really didn't know exactly when I would see him again.

"Alright."

Phew. At least I had gotten through that. Now I just had to make up more reasons why Ash wasn't around for the next two weeks. How I was going to do that, I really didn't know.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been really busy. And, please don't kill me! I promise that this will not be the last time we hear from Ash. In the meantime, though, thanks for all the reviews: <em>Jane Hawthron, Lotusnapper<em>_, Iamsprezzatura, NotJustAGirl, nyislandersgirl FollowingTheWind, Widdiful Echidna, Mizuki hikari, buneary709, and SpaztasticStella. _I really appreciate the feedback. :) **


	10. Chapter 10

For the rest of the day, I tried to avoid Ash in hopes that it would make things easier on me. It was as if things were the way they had been when he first arrived with the two of us missing each other all day. He didn't show up for lunch or dinner either, instead waiting until I had left. When I went to bed, I couldn't help but feel terrible about what was happening. It was not ideal in anyway whatsoever, but I knew deep down that it was what would help.

It wasn't until Monday that I realized that he must have left since I had been so busy. In order to distract myself, I put all my energy into the day camps and preparing for them. With a new one this week, I had to make sure I was able to come up with some fun things to do. Today, we were having relay races with the Pokemon. Each team would get one of my Pokemon to help them complete the races. The other parts of the race they had to complete on their own, working as a team to win cookies. On the red team, they had my Starmie, while the blue team had my Corsola. The first leg of the race they had to fill a bucket of water using plastic cups. Next, they had to carry an egg on a spoon, followed by a small running race. To finish it off, they used my Pokemon to help them knock down a target. (This was meant to help them practice basic battling skills).

"So, what's Ash been up to? I haven't seen him since Sunday," Brock asked me.

"I don't know," I lied. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. "I think he wanted to go visit home. You know? Before he leaves again?"

"Don't you usually go with him, though?" Darn it. I had forgotten he knew that. Ash and I would always go to Pallet together before he left.

"Right, but I have this camp, so I couldn't go this time. And since I was there over the weekend, he decided to go." Yeah. That sounded like a pretty decent lie.

"Okay…" He didn't sound like he believed me at all, though. "When's he get back?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. In a way that wasn't a lie because I really didn't know exactly when I would see him again.

"Alright."

Phew. At least I had gotten through that. Now I just had to make up more reasons why Ash wasn't around for the next two weeks. How I was going to do that, I really didn't know.

/

The next two weeks flew by, marking some important events. For starters, this week would have been when Ash was supposed to leave if things had gone according to plan. This meant that I no longer had to make up excuses of why he was gone, although, I had a feeling Brock had somehow found out what was going on. I say this because I caught him talking to someone on the phone one day. When I had walked in, he had quickly hung up. After that, whenever I had told him where Ash was-he went to visit home, he wanted to check out his Pokemon back at Oaks's lab, or that I had no idea where he went-he never pushed me to say more.

The second event that these two weeks marked was that this was my last week of watching Shane. After this, his father would be back, and I would only see him once a day at camp. The thought of him leaving actually made me feel sad, as I had grown very attached to him over the past month. We had spent many days going to the park, and one day I had even taken him to the aquarium downtown. This, of course, had been his favorite since they had a whole exhibit on Squirtle and its evolutions. Another day I took him to the beach, something I myself hadn't been able to do in forever. And, naturally, this was the perfect opportunity for me to spend some time with Ash, but he wasn't here anymore.

"Miss Misty!" I heard Shane call my name as he ran into the pool area. I had promised him that after today's camp and his nap, I would give him some extra swimming lessons. He wanted me to teach him so that when he got older, he could beat me in a race. He ran to the side of the pool before jumping in. "Can we jump off the diving board again?"

"If you listen to Miss Misty, and are on your best behavior, then yes," I told him. I knew that he would be good because, since being with me, his behavior had greatly improved. Although he was still a bit wild, he was much better at following directions and being more patient when he had to wait. "Let's practice your kicking, okay?"

I held him up so that he was floating on top of the water. He started kicking, splashing water all over the place, as he tried to put all his energy into kicking as hard as he could. I had to turn my head to the side to avoid the water that was flying all over the place.

"Very good job, Shane," I complimented him. With my lessons, he would be an excellent swimmer in no time.

"Can I show you something, Miss Misty?" he asked me when I let him go.

"Sure."

I had no idea what he wanted to show me, but I had a feeling that if I didn't let him, he would be really disappointed. He put his fingers on his nose in order to pinch it shut before dunking his head underwater and doing a summersault. I was very impressed, curious as to how he had learned something like that when I hadn't taught him anything like it.

"What did you think, Miss Misty?" he asked, clearly seeking my approval.

"That was very good, Shane. Where did you learn that?"

"Mr. Ash taught me!" he exclaimed. "He taught me a lot of cool stuff. He taught me how to hold my breath for ten seconds!"

Ash had taught him all that stuff? I didn't understand how that was possible when, while he was here, I barely saw anything of Ash. If I barely saw him, how was Shane able to see him long enough to be taught all these things?

"Shane, when did Mr. Ash teach you all these things?"

"When you had to go do adult stuff. When you had to go, I always asked Mr. Ash to play with me. He always teach me cool swimming tricks. He also let me battle his Cyndaquil with his Squirtle!" What? When in the world had all this happen? And more importantly, how come Ash had never told me? I didn't even know he liked kids. "But he no longer around anymore. He just disappeared. He promised to let me battle with Pikachu, too."

I felt horrible. There was no other way to describe how I felt. Ash wasn't one who liked to break promises, and I had gone and forced him to break his promise. And of all people, to a little kid who I grown to love. If he had told me that he promised Shane, or that he had even been teaching him all this stuff, then I wouldn't have forced him to leave.

XXX

I left Sunday night so she wouldn't see me or hear me when I left. Although, I think I did it for my own benefit because I knew that if I saw her, I would try to convince her to change her mind. This was what she wanted, though. This was what she thought would help our relationship, but I wasn't so sure. I knew that I was causing her pain every time I left, but I doubt she knew that it wasn't exactly easy for me. So many times I had thought about just giving up so that I could return. I would tell myself that I could just find a different job; I didn't need to be the Pokemon Master. I knew, though, that if I gave up, she would kick my butt. She would never let me just quit. And if I showed up on her doorstep, saying that I didn't want this anymore, she would slam the door in my face and never speak to me.

She was weird like that. Never wanting me to give up anything for her. I think it was a pride thing. She was too proud to admit that she wanted me to sacrifice something for her, when she was the one that did most of the sacrificing. I wasn't allowed to argue with her on it, though. I just had to let it go. And that's why, like everything before, when she told me that she wanted us to break up, I didn't fight her. It took every bit of me not to, but I restrained myself.

As I traveled down a path I had been down so many times before, the ringing of my phone caused me to pause.

"Ash, where the heck are you?" I was greeted by Brock's question the second I flipped open the phone.

"Uh, I'm on my way to Fuchsia City," I explained to him.

"What? What the heck are you heading there for?" He honestly sounded like, if he were here, he would beat me up. "Misty said you were in Pallet."

"Huh?" Now I was the confused one.

"Ash, did you even go to Pallet?" he asked me.

"No." That's when it dawned on me that he didn't know. Misty hadn't said anything to him about what had happened. She had been lying to him about where I had been this past week and a half. "She didn't tell you, did she?"

"Misty? No. What's going on, Ash?"

I sighed, hating the fact that I would have to explain to him what I had tried not to think about. "Brock, I left a week and a half ago. Misty and I…we-we broke up…well, she said it's more like taking a break-until I achieve my dream."

"You broke up?" He seemed more shocked than I did. Then he did something I didn't expect. He started yelling at me as if it was all my fault. It was as if he didn't even hear the second part. "How could you do that to her? You know how she is, Ash. She just puts too many things on her plate and then gets overworked. If you were mad at her, you should have just talked to her. You didn't have to break up with her!"

"Me?" I practically shouted, scaring a few Pokemon in the nearby trees. "You think this is my fault?"

"It's not?"

"No," I snapped. "She broke up with me."

"Ash, I'm sorry," he replied, his voice back to normal. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine."

He stopped talking for a bit, trying to figure out what to say next. While I waited for him to start talking, I continued on, Pikachu giving me a concerned look from my shoulder. Pikachu had known how hard this had been for me. He had freaked out when I told him we were leaving without saying anything to Misty. When I had explained to him what was going on, I tried my best to keep it short and simple. Going into a lot of detail would only make me sad. I don't know how much he truly understood about what was going on, but he seemed to be taking it as hard as I was.

"Ash? You still there," I heard Brock ask.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay, I guess," I lied. In reality, I was pretty bummed out. Since she had asked me not to come back until I had figured out what I wanted to do-be completing my dream or not-I had nowhere to really go. In a weird way, though, this only made me want to achieve my dream faster, if it meant I would get to be with her sooner. "How's Misty?"

"Uh, she's good. Busy as usual." It wasn't what I was really looking for, but okay. In the background, I could hear Misty ask Brock whom he was talking to. "Sorry I got to go!"

XXX

Today was the day. Shane's father would be coming to get him in less than twenty-four hours. After that, who knows when I would see him again. It was really weird to think about missing a kid that, when I had first met him, I couldn't help but find troublesome. The more I thought about it, the more Shane reminded me of Ash. No wonder they had gotten along so well. They both shared a love of Pokemon that was a bit over the top, they always seemed to get themselves in trouble, and they were eager to show off everything they had accomplished or learned. No wonder I had gotten so attached to Shane.

Since it was our last day, I had agreed to take him to the park for one last time. This time, however, I was taking all ten of my campers-with Brock's help, of course. Because there were ten of them, we had to borrow a huge van that Brock had kindly agreed to drive. And let me tell you, I was glad I didn't drive. I wouldn't know how I could have concentrated with all these kids yelling.

"Who wants to sing a song?" I yelled over the laughter, screams, and full out yelling.

"I don't think they heard you, Miss Misty," Shane told me when only a few kids looked at me. The rest just carried on with what they were doing.

Sadly, I had to agree with him there. Knowing I had to get control of these kids somehow, I resulted in something Brock and Ash had taught me over the years. Putting my two fingers in my mouth, I whistled as loud as I could. Just like magic, the kids turned around to look at me, their laughter dying down slowly.

"Who wants to sing a song?" I repeated. Thankfully, many of the kids agreed to this, allowing me to find something to distract them until we reached the park. "Okay, this group over here," I said pointing to a group of kids, "when I point to you, I want you to shout, _Go, Pikachu go_!"

And, of course, being kids, they started yelling. "This group over here, I want you to say, _I choose you_! And this group over here, I want you to say, _Thuunder Bolt_! All together, we're going to say, _Team Rocket's blasting off again!_"

At the last part, they all looked at me with a confused look, while Brock peered at me through the rear view mirror, a small grin on his face.

_Late one night  
>When we were all asleep<br>Team Rocket came  
>And stole Ash's Pikachu<em>

He battled Team Rocket  
>And rescued Pikachu<br>And just like always  
>This is what happened.<p>

I pointed to the first group. "GO PIKACHU GO!"

The second group. "I CHOOSE YOU!"

The third Group. "THUUNDER BOLT!"

All together. "TEAM ROCKET"S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

/

Later that night after a fun time at the park, I was helping Shane finish packing his things when the doorbell rang. For a second, he looked at me with the saddest look in his eyes. It was very clear, as he had told me many times today, that he didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay here forever because he was having so much fun.

"Misty! Shane's dad is here!" Brock yelled upstairs to me.

Standing up, I helped him grab his little suitcase and his stuffed Totodile before leading him downstairs. When were reached the front door, sure enough, Mr. Mayer was standing there waiting for him.

"Shane, how are you? Did you have a good time?" Mr. Mayer asked his son. At first Shane was a bit hesitant in getting near his dad, but eventually he walked over and gave him a hug. Picking his son up, he looked at me before laughing. "I'll take that as a yes. He must be exhausted. You must be a miracle worker."

No, not really. I just knew that spending time with him would make him happy. It really wasn't that complicated. "I guess so," I laughed nervously. "He was great. I had no problems."

"Well that's good to hear. I was surprised when I got no phone calls, but I guess this just proves he really did have a good time." Leaning his son forward a bit, he faced him before saying, "We're kind of in a hurry, buddy. Would you like to say goodbye to Misty before we go?"

He wiggled in his dad's arms before Mr. Mayer let him down. Once his feet touched the floor, he raced over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, giving me a big hug. I picked him up so that I could give him a hug myself. Like I said many times before, I was really going to miss him. Over the month, it was as if he had become my own son.

Wrapping my arms around him, I squeezed him tight. "I'll miss you Shane," I told him. "You're welcome here any time."

"I'll miss you, too, Miss Misty." Looking at his tiny face, I saw his big brown eyes shinning a bit, as little tears started to fall. "You're the best person ever. I love you, Miss Misty."

"I love you, too, Shane," I told him. And I really did, too. Letting go, I set him back down.

"You ready to go, Shane?" Mr. Mayer asked. He seemed very impatient, and it was starting to irritate me.

"Miss Misty," he looked up at me, ignoring his dad. "I forgot to tell you something."

"Hmm?" I asked, kneeling down in front of him.

"Can you tell Mr. Ash that when I grow up, I'm going to be just like him?"

"Just like him?" I asked, my voice trying to sound playful but shocked. The world did not need anymore Ash Ketchums.

"Yeah! He's my hero, Miss Misty," he explained. "Would you tell him, please?"

"I'll make sure I'll let him know," I told Shane. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't know when I would see Ash next. Or even, if I would ever see him again.


	11. Chapter 11

_Three Years Later_

"Cerulean City Gym, Misty speaking."

"Hi, Misty. This is Mr. Mayer. Shane's dad?"

"Oh, hi Mr. Mayer. How can I help you?"

"I was calling to see if you would be interested in coming to a dinner on Friday to honor my competitor."

Friday night, hmm? Glancing over at my calendar, I checked Friday to see if I had anything going on that day. Not to my surprise, I was free that night with no prior plans. This was always how it had been these past years. I just didn't get out much anymore. Not since he and I broke up.

"I'm free that night," I told Mr. Mayer.

"Splendid. Shane will be happy to see you. If you don't mind, I'd like to keep it a surprise that you are coming," he explained.

"Alright."

"Good. Well I must be going. The dinner is at seven at the Indigo Plateau. Please wear something nice."

After I hung up the phone, I slumped down into my seat with a big sigh. Ever since I had watched Shane for Mr. Mayer, his family and I had become pretty good friends. He had even called me a few more times through the years to watch Shane some more. Although, in the past year, I hadn't seen Shane, having not received any requests to watch him. So, let's just say, that this dinner request was quite out of the blue. Nonetheless, though, I was happy to go if I could get out of this crummy gym for at least one night. Now all I needed to do was find something nice to wear that would meet the requirements of "nice dinner attire." I'd call my sisters, but even that seemed like a scary idea. Knowing them, they would try to dress me like them, which would not work for me.

/

Before leaving, I glanced at myself once more in the mirror. I normally didn't do this, but tonight I was really nervous about this dinner. I just wanted to look nice. After much deliberation and staring at racks of clothes at the store, I had decided to purchase a red dress with a sweetheart top that fell to just past my knees. In the middle of the dress, there was a silver band that gave some sparkle to the dress. For my hair, I had decided to wear it in a fishtail braid since that was one of the few hairstyles I knew how to do. For once, I actually thought I looked pretty good. Grabbing my sweater, purse, and keys, I headed for my car.

XXX

So apparently, there is this weird custom where, whoever is challenging the Pokemon Master, has to attend this stupid dinner to honor them. Plus, I had heard from some of the workers that Mr. Mayer-The Pokemon Master-didn't even know who he was up against. So, this dinner was going to allow him to be introduced to me. In addition to that, since it was a fancy dinner, I wasn't allowed to bring Pikachu with me. That wasn't even the worst part, though. What made it really sucky was that I had to dress up in a suit and a tie. I hated having to dress nice.

When I walked into the big banquet hall, I was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of people there. I could recognize a few, but I barely actually knew any of them. Some of them I knew to be gym leaders, while others were part of the Elite Four and the Battle Frontier. I didn't know any of these people, yet they were all here to honor me. How had that worked out?

Thankfully, I was able to find Mr. Mayer rather quickly, as one of the dinner guests had grabbed my arm and dragged me over to him. When we reached him, he was in the middle of a conversation with, what I thought, was a gym leader from Hoenn. When he was finished talking to the gym leader, the man who had dragged me over here, interrupted him.

"Mr. Mayer, I would like you to meet your competition for Sunday. This here is-"

"Mr. Ash!" I heard a voice call my name. Turning in the direction it came from, I saw a younger boy with blonde hair push his was through the crowd and over to me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he seemed very familiar. And so did the name he called me. "It's really you! You're here!"

"-Ash Ketchum sir," the man finished, regardless of the fact this kid had already shouted my name.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Ash. I'm sorry about my son. He can get very excited about things." After shaking my hand, he picked up his son, trying to keep him from racing after people again. "I didn't know you knew our guest, Shane."

Shane? No way. It couldn't be. I knew Mr. Mayer had a son, but it was hard for me to picture this being his son. Shane looked a lot different from when I had last seen him. He was-if my math was correct-now seven years old. He looked slightly different, yet it seemed his personality was still in there. I honestly thought I would never see this kid again, but I guess life can throw surprises at you.

"Mmhm," Shane nodded. "This is Mr. Ash. He is Miss Misty's soul mate. At least that's what Mr. Brock told me. Mr. Ash is the one who taught me how to battle and how to do a bunch of tricks in the water. Remember?"

Misty…I hadn't heard that name in years. I hadn't even seen her during these three years. I had tried to avoid her at all costs, afraid to face her again. I didn't know what I would say to her, nor did I know what our meeting would be like. Go figure, this kid would be the one to bring up Misty.

"Ah. So you're the famous Mr. Ash. You've left quite an impression on my son. He tells me you're his hero. Wants to be just like you, too."

"Hero?" I asked very confused. Not once had I ever had anyone call me their hero, nor had anyone told me they aspired to be just like me. I barely knew this kid, but I couldn't help but feel really good about myself. I may have only gotten to know this kid for a little bit, but I was his hero. That, I had to admit, was a pretty cool thing.

"Yeah. Just like Miss Misty told you," he smiled. When I didn't say anything to confirm Misty telling me this, he frowned. "Miss Misty told you my message, didn't she?"

"No," I replied. At this he looked even more heartbroken than before. "I haven't talked to Miss Misty in a long time, though."

"Oh."

XXX

When I finally reached the dinner, I felt like I had entered a giant zoo. There were people everywhere, obscuring my view of the banquet hall. I recognized a bunch of people because they were either gym leaders or elite four members. I wouldn't lie, though. I had no interest in talking to them. Whenever I did, they always seemed to ask me about Ash and how he was doing. I would normally just say good, trying to jump to another topic. Tonight, though, I didn't want to deal with that.

As I was peering through the crowd to see if I could find some space to sit and relax, I felt myself shift forward as something large collided with me. Turning around, I saw a grown up looking Shane all dressed in a little suit and tie. When he saw me, he had the biggest smile I had ever seen. I knew my smile mimicked his, as I was beyond thrilled to see him. I had missed Shane so much during the time I hadn't seen him, and I couldn't get over how big he looked.

"You're here, Miss Misty! You're here!" he shouted, still clinging to my leg. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," I replied, giving him a big hug.

He stepped back in order to get some air, still smiling at me. "You look really pretty, Miss Misty," he complimented me. As cheesy as it sounded, his small but honest compliment made me feel loads better about myself.

"Thank you Shane. How are you? You look so big! When did you grow up so fast?" I know I sounded like an old lady talking to her grandchild, but I didn't care. Shane was like my adopted son.

"I don't know," he laughed. "My dad said it's because I eat a lot."

"I guess some things don't change, huh?" I kidded with him. Ever since I had met him he ate a lot.

"Yep." He looked around the room behind me before looking back at me, another big smile on his face. "I have a surprise for you, Miss Misty!"

"You do?" I could only imagine what his surprise was.

"Follow me," he replied.

He started walking toward a group of tables that, for some reason, nobody was sitting at. As we pushed our way through the crowd, I tired my hardest not to lose him in this sea of people. When we reached the tables he told me to sit down and that he would be right back with my surprise. Before I could ask him when he would be back, he sprinted back into the crowd, leaving me to sit awkwardly by myself.

XXX

While wandering through the crowd, I had unfortunately gotten stuck talking to this kid named Joey. I had no idea who he was, but he seemed to know exactly who I was. He told me how he had seen me around, and how he always wanted to battle me. Out of kindness, I asked him what kind of Pokemon he had. That's when he started going on and on about his Rattata, and how it was the best out there. He told me how that, although they may have lost some battles, his Rattata was still one of the best out there, and how he was sure it would beat my strongest Pokemon. I honestly was thinking about faking sickness just so I could get out of this conversation.

"Mr. Ash!" I heard Shane call my name, coming to my rescue. Despite what I may have said in the past, I loved this kid right now. "I have to show you something!"

Grabbing my hand, he pulled me away from Joey and dragged me through the crowds of people. I didn't know where he was taking me, but I was more than happy to get out of there. When we reached a group of tables, he slowed down, allowing me to catch up a bit. Looking over to where he was, I saw a girl sitting alone at one of the tables, looking like she was waiting for something. I came to abrupt halt a few feet away, taken aback by what I was seeing. I started to feel like Brock as I stared at her in her red dress, her chin on her hands looking bored. Regardless of her expression, she looked stunning.

When she turned around and spotted us, her eyes got wide and her mouth dropped open a bit. She quickly covered her hand with her mouth, still looking blown away to see me. She must have been really star struck because nobody had given me this reaction before. I guess she was just a really big fan.

"Ash?" she asked, her voice wavering a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the guest of honor," I explained to her. "I'm the one who'll be fighting the current Pokemon Master on Sunday."

"Surprise!" Shane shouted, throwing his hands in the air in celebration.

If his surprise was to introduce me to this really attractive girl, I wasn't complaining. Although, she didn't look too thrilled to see me.

The girl sighed, sounding sad. "I really appreciate what you're doing, Shane. But what's the purpose of this?" the girl asked him, frowning a bit.

"So you and Mr. Ash can make up, Miss Misty!"

Miss Misty? Holy shit…this was Misty? As I stared between her and Shane, I suddenly felt like she had just a few minutes ago. I couldn't believe she was here. I hadn't seen her in forever, and I missed her like crazy. She looked absolutely beautiful, making me wish I was still with her even more. When I had thought about what it would be like to see her again, I hadn't taken into account my feelings I still had for her to come swarming to the surface. I wanted more than anything to kiss her just like when I would return after being gone for so long. But I couldn't. She wasn't mine anymore.

"Shane," she frowned at him, "it's not that easy."

"But-but," he blubbered, confused as why it wasn't as easy as he thought. He looked like he was going to start crying any second.

"What's wrong, Shane?" Misty asked, her voice caring and mother like.

I had never really seen her when she was around Shane, but it was then that I realized how truly great she was with him. She would make a great mother one day, that much I knew. I just hoped that, if things worked out, I'd get to see her be a great mother everyday.

"Mr. Brock! He-he said that you-you and Mr. Ash are soul mates! You're supposed to get married and-and have kids for me to play with."

Great… this kid had apparently jumped on the "Ash and Misty Belong Together" bandwagon. Next he's going to start making bets with Brock and Gary about our relationship.

Misty just put her head in her hands, murmuring something about reminding her to kill Brock later. "Shane…"

"Hey, Shane," I said, pulling up a chair across from him. He looked up at me, his face stained with tears. How was it that one kid could be affected so much by my relationship with Misty? It just didn't make sense to me. I saw Misty peer at me through her fingers, curious as to what I was about to do next. "It's going to be okay, buddy. Miss Misty and I are adults. We can figure it out. We have to just wait a little bit until we can do that, but you really helped us out, you know that? If it weren't for you, Miss Misty and I would have never met up with each other tonight. So, thank you for that, and I promise you that Miss Misty and I will try our hardest to work things out. And if for some reason they don't work out like you may hope, just know that Miss Misty and I will be there if you ever need anything."

"You promise, Mr. Ash?" Despite the sad look on his face, there was still a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I promise," I told him, sticking out my pinky to seal it. He smiled at me before doing the same, wrapping his own pinky around mine.

After that, he said goodbye before running off, promising to return shortly. Unfortunately, though, with his departure came Misty and I being forced to be alone together.

"Well, well, well, Ashy boy. Finally going after your dream, I see?" Misty said very slyly. Turning around, I saw her with her arms folded and a small smirk on her face. I couldn't help but smile, knowing that the Misty I knew and loved was still there. "It's about darn well time."

"I was getting tired of waiting," I smirked right back. "I know I'm ready, though."

"I see."

An eerie silence fell between us as her smirk faded into a more relaxed look.

"You look amazing, Mist," I told her. Man did it feel great to use that nickname again. "It's great to see you. I've-I've missed you a lot."

She smiled one of her smiles that could always distract me from whatever I was doing. I would pay anything to have her back right now. "Me, too, Ash."

XXX

While walking around my hotel room, I heard a knock on my door that sounded urgent and impatient. Opening the door, I found Shane standing in the doorway with a huge poster board and permanent markers. Without even saying hello, he ran into my room and threw his things on the floor.

"Miss Misty, I need your help," he told me as he placed his poster board on the floor. "I don't know what to do!"

"What's your problem, Shane?" I asked, walking over to where he was now sitting on the floor.

"I want to make a poster for the match tomorrow, but I don't know who I should root for!" he cried. Hmm. This was quite the dilemma. "I love my dad, and I want him to win, but Mr. Ash is my hero, and I really want him to win, too."

I had never been in this position before, but I bet it was tough to choose between your father and your hero. I don't know how much help I would be.

"How about you make a poster for both of them?" I suggested.

"I only have one poster board, though."

"Maybe you could put both of their names on it. One half could say, _Go Daddy_, while the other can say, _Go Mr. Ash_."

At this his eyes lit up in excitement. "I knew you would know what to do," he smiled some more. "You're very smart, Miss Misty."

"Thank you," I replied. "Do you need help with your poster?"

"What's Mr. Ash's favorite color?"

Uh…What was Ash's favorite color? I honestly felt really bad for not knowing the answer to that question. I had to really think about this one.

"I think blue," I told him. I mean Ash always had worn a lot of blue. Then again, maybe it was red. Nah, I'll just stick with blue. "Anything else?"

"If Mr. Ash wins, what are you going to do, Miss Misty?"

While I thought about how to answer his question, I watched as he started writing a big G in blue permanent marker. Next he wrote an O, before moving the marker under the G and writing ASH. "I will give him a big hug and congratulate him on winning," I told him as he moved on to the second half of the poster. "After that, I don't know."

"You should marrying him," Shane told me.

"Shane, just because people say Mr. Ash and I are meant to be together doesn't mean it will work out that way," I told him.

"But Mr. Ash loves you Miss Misty. Just like my daddy loves my mommy." I had never heard Shane talk about his mother, so this came as quite a surprise for him to compare his parent's relationship with Ash and I's. "Mr. Ash makes you happy Miss Misty, and my daddy always said he married my mommy because she made him happy."

I honestly didn't know what to say to that. How was it that a seven year old could figure out what I had been trying to make sense of for years? He was right, too. Even though I had felt sad when Ash was gone, and hated having to wait for him to come back, I always seemed to feel happy. Happy because I knew I had someone who cared about me and could make me smile and laugh even on the crappiest of days. So how was it, that I missed such a simple yet important fact? My life with Ash didn't have to be ideal, but so long as I was happy with him, I think I'd be okay.

/

The next day was the big day he had been waiting for since he was ten years old. This was the chance for Ash to prove to himself and the world that he could do what he had set out to do those many years ago. The best part? I would get to be there to watch him and cheer him on. Mr. Mayer, knowing that Shane would want to sit near me, had kindly let me sit in the front row, giving me an amazing view. In addition to that, he had kindly let Ash's friends go and visit him in the locker room before the match. So, right after finding our seats, Shane and I headed over to the locker rooms to wish Ash one last good luck.

When we got there, Ms. Ketchum was hugging Ash, telling him how proud of him she was. Next to her, waiting patiently was Professor Oak, while Pikachu was sitting on Ash's head to avoid being squished. Before she let go and gave someone else a chance to talk to him, she told him that no matter what, everyday he was her hero. And I had to say, I agreed with that, and I think Shane did, too. All of his traveling companions were there from Tracey, who was sketching the scene in the corner, to Iris and Cilan. In addition to that, there were even some people that hadn't traveled with him such as Drew-dragged along by May- Casey-wanted to be there to cheer him on- and Melody. As I got closer, I overheard Melody telling Ash that, if he lost this, he would still at least be the chosen one. But that he had better not mess it up.

Before I went, I let Shane go ahead of me since I wanted to talk to Ash privately. I don't know why, but Gary and Brock had decided to stick around, probably trying to spy for the Ash and Misty Belong Together fan club.

"Mr. Ash!" Shane yelled, running up to Ash. "Can I have your autograph?"

I heard Brock and Gary snicker in the background as Shane pulled out a picture and a pen, handing them to Ash. I found myself laughing a bit, finding it extremely adorable. When Ash signed the picture for Shane, he thanked him and wished him good luck before running over to show me his newly acquired autograph.

"Look," he instructed me, pointing to the part on the picture where Ash had signed it. The picture was the one I had taken the other day at the dinner after Shane had ran back with a camera and demanded we take a picture with him. So, to the best of our ability, we scrunched our faces into the frame-Shane stuck in the middle-and snapped a picture. After taking one, he had made us take a funny picture with him, which unfortunately, was the one he had chosen.

In the picture, Shane was sticking out his tongue, while Ash tried to look confused (wasn't that hard for him) and I puffed out my cheeks, trying to imitate Jigglypuff. In the right corner of the picture, in his sloppy handwriting, he had written, ASH.

After that, Shane told me that he would meet me at our seats as he left the room, escorted by Brock and Gary. I watched them leave, walking through the door as they talked about Shane's autograph.

"Hey," I called, turning around to face him. "How are you doing?"

"Freaked out." Ash Ketchum nervous? I would have never suspected that. He had done a really good job of hiding it. Walking over, I sat down next to him on the bench.

"Ash, you'll be okay," I assured him, wrapping my hand around his."You'll be great."

"Thanks," he replied, but he didn't sound so convinced. Pikachu, sensing his nerves, patted Ash on the shoulder with his little paw. "Thanks, Pikachu."

Just then, I heard the bell, warning me that we only had five minutes left until the match started. "I have to go," I told him. When I stood up, I found myself continuing to hold onto his hand. Maybe it was the fear of not knowing what would happen after this, or worry for him and how he would do. "Good luck, Ash."

/

"Welcome ladies and gentleman to the today's match. Today we will find out if we will be crowning a new Pokemon Master or if we will be celebrating another victory for current champion. I ask that you refrain from taking any pictures or video, as this could harm the Pokemon. Now for our contestants."

At this point, the crowd started going crazy, some of them starting to chant Jake, which was Mr. Mayer's first name. Also at this time, Shane held up his sign that he had spent most of the afternoon yesterday creating.

"In the red corner, we have our current champion, Mr. Jake Mayer!"

Like he had done this many times before, Mr. Mayer walked into the arena, waving to the crowds of people. When he reached the platform he would be standing on, he turned and waved to Shane and I, chuckling a bit at Shane's sign. I wonder how he felt knowing that his son was also cheering for his opponent.

"And in the blue corner, we have his opponent, Mr. Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

Standing up, I cheered as loud as I could, trying to rival the cheers for Mr. Mayer. I almost got pretty close, too, because in one of the corners near Ash's side, there was Ash's friends and family standing up and holding posters and banners, cheering for him.

Out of the tunnel emerged Ash with his loyal Pikachu on his shoulder. Being unsure of how to address the crowd, he waved really quickly before running over to his platform.

"This will be a six on six battle, no time limit. Competitors ready?" Ash and Mr. Mayer nodded their heads as the ref took the sidelines. "Alright folks. Ready? Set? Begin the match!"

/

"I don't believe it folks! It appears as if we have a new champion! Ash Ketchum from Pallet has defeated the Pokemon Master!"

The whole crowd screamed and yelled in celebration. Cupping my hands over my mouth, I cheered as loud as I could, throwing in a few whistles. As I looked over toward Ash, he had a look of pure shock on his face. While everyone around him screamed and cheered, he looked like he was frozen in time, as if everything was moving in slow motion for him. The red and blue confetti began raining down, blocking my view of him. After that, Mr. Mayer and Ash shook hands and, after that, they started letting people swarm the field.

Grabbing Shane's hand, I led him threw the crowds of people to try and find Ash or any of my friends. I figured he'd probably be toward the center so I headed there, pushing people out of my way, not really caring if they got mad.

XXX

The crowd swarmed around me like a pack of Beedrill, while the confetti littered the floor, blocking my view. I had to find her, but I didn't even know where to start. Pikachu, freaked out by all the sudden hysteria, climbed to the top of my head, trying to get as far as he could away from it all. I didn't blame him either. There were so many people congratulating me, most of them people I'd never even seen in my life.

"Ash!" I heard someone yell my name. Turning around, I was disappointed when it wasn't her but Brock and May. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks," I replied. "Have you seen Misty?"

They shook their head, while I glanced around once more to see if I could spot her. You'd think with as bright as hair as she had that I would be able to spot her in a crowd.

XXX

"Shane, I'm going to put you on my shoulders. If you see Ash, tell me where to go," I told Shane as I picked him up and hoisted him on my shoulders.

We walked around a bit, trying to see if we could spot him or anyone that might know where he would be.

"THERE!" I heard Shane yell over the crowd of people. Looking up, I saw he was pointing to the left. "PIKACHU'S ON HIS HEAD!"

XXX

Followed by Brock was my mom-who crushed me in a hug-Gary, Tracey, and Professor Oak. Like everyone else, they congratulated me, telling me how proud of me they were. And just like Brock and May, they had no idea where Misty was or even where I might find her.

"ASH!" I heard someone else yell. Turning toward the voice, I saw Misty pushing her way through the crowd with Shane on her shoulders. It took her a while to reach me, but she finally did. Setting Shane down, she wasted no time in crushing me in a hug. "Finally!"

When she finally let me go, she looked at me with a huge smile on her face. Then she did something I would never expect from Misty of all people. She grabbed my hands and started jumping up and down like a peppy person.

"You did it! You did it! You did it!" she cheered. I just watched her in amazement; a little frightened by the Misty I was seeing. She suddenly stopped and frowned at me. "Why aren't you cheering with me?"

"Oh, sorry." She smiled again before jumping up and down, cheering in celebration as I attempted to jump along with her. I felt like a complete idiot doing this, but oh well. It made her happy. That's when I got an idea. "Follow me."

Shoving Pikachu into Shane's hands, I grabbed her hand and dragged her away with me, ignoring the cries from the people around me about me suddenly leaving. When I reached the other end, I pulled her through the doors and into the locker room. When the door swung behind us, I locked it before letting go of her hand. This way we could talk without being bothered.

She glanced at the locked door before smirking at me, indicating she was plotting something inside her head. Without any warning, she grabbed my shirt and pulling me closer to her, where she wasted no time in kissing me. And without anything having to be said, I knew that everything was going to be okay. I got her back after waiting three years, and if I played my cards right, I'd have her forever. I'm sure Shane would be really happy with that.

_The End_

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><p>Thank you to all the have reviewed and read this story! I'm sorry there was no epic Pokemon battle. I am terrible at writing them, so I thought I would spare you from my lame battle writing. I hope you enjoyed the story. Reviews are appreciated as always.<p> 


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